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1907
1405710
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
:^. f^
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 00877 8091
Publication Number Twelve.
OF THE
ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY
TRANSACTIONS ^
OF THE
Illinois State Historical Society
FOR THE YEAR 1907
Eighth Annual Meeting of the Society, Springfield, III.
January 24-25. 1907.
Published by Authority of
the Board of Trustees
of the
ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY.
(z&iax^
i^^
SPRINGFIELD. ILL.:
Phillips Bbos., Statb PaiNTBaa
1908.
1405710
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OF THE
Illinois State Historical Library
Presidoit:
E. J. James, Urbana.
Vice President:
M. H. Chamberlin, Lebanon.
Secretary:
George N. Black, Springfield.
Librarian:
Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
OF THE
Illinois State Historical Society.
E. B. Greene, Chairman.
Jessie Palmer Weber. M. H. Chamberlin, Lebanon.
George N. Black, Springfield. George A. Dupuy, Chicago.
George W. Smith, Carbondale. C W. Alvord, Urbana.
Stephen L. Spear, Springfield. Alfred Orendorff, cx ofTino.
Officers of the Illinois State Historical Society, January, 1 907- 1 908.
President.
Gen. x-Vlfred Orendorff Springfield
First Vice-President.
Hon. Clark E. Carr Galesburg
Second Vice-President.
Gen. Smith D. Atkins Ffccport
Third Vice-President.
Hon. William Vocke Chicago
Board of D-irectors.
Edmund Janes James, Ph. D., LL. D., President of the University of
IlHnois. Urbana-Champaign ; M. H. Chamberlin. President of Mc-
Kendree College, Lebanon; Hon. George N. Black. Springfield; J. H.
Burnham, Bloomington ; Hon. L. Y. Sherman, ]\Iaconib ; Hon.
David McCulloch, Peoria; Evarts B. Greene, Ph. D.. University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign ; Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber. Springfield ;
Edwin Erie Sparks, Ph. D., University of Chicago, Chicago ; Hon.
William H. Collins, Quincy; Hon. J. O. Cunningham. I'rbana ; Hon.
Andrew Russel, Jacksonville; Prof. Geo. W. Smith, Southern Illinois
Normal University, Carbondale ; Rev. C. J. Eschmaiui. Prairie du
Rocher ; J. W. Clinton, Polo.
Secretary and Treasurer to the Board of Directors.
jMrs. Jessie Palmer Weber Springfield
Honorary Vice-Presidents.
The Presidents of Local Historical Societies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
P\C.E
General Ixformatiox, Editorial Xote I-XIX
1 — Officers and committees of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1907
2^Members of tlie Illinois State Historical Society, 1906-1907
TART I.— KECOKD OF OFFICIAL I'KOCEKDINGS.
1 — Minutes of the Society 3.g
2 — Minutes of the Buard of Directors 7.U
3 — Reports of Committees 15-22
PART II.— PAPERS READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1907.
1 — Clara K. Bayli&s, A Xutive Illinois Sun Myth 25-,U
2 — Clark McAdams, The Archaeology of Illinois .?5-47
3 — F. M. Woolard, Route of Col. George Rogers Clark and His Army from Kas-
kaskia to Vincenncs, r,VJ 48-63
4 — James H. Roberts, The Life and Times of General John Edgar 64-73
5 — Daniel Berry, The Illinois Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 74-78
6 — Mrs. EKen M. Henrotin. The Visit of the Marquis dc Lafayette to Illinois in
1S25-26 79S4
7 — George E. Dawson. The Integral Phalanx 85-9S
S — Stephen A. Forbes, Grierson's Cavalry Raid, (ivith nwp) 90-1,^0
9 — .Jacob M. Wilkin. Personal Reminiscences of General U. S. Grant 131-140
10 — James H. Matheny, Samuel P. ^Yhecler, a Memorial 141-144
PART III.— DOCUMENTS.
1 — Clarence E. Carter, Documents relating to the Occupation of the Illinois
Country by the British 202-221
2 — Letters to Gustav Kocrncr, 183^-1863 222-246
3 — Letters from Ogle and Carroll Counties, 1838-1857 247-261
PART IV. — CONTRIBUTIONS TO STATE HISTORY.
1 — Clarence W. Alvord. The Oath of Vineennes. ms, (ic-ith fnc simile) 265-276
2 — May Allinson. The Gonrnmcnt of Illinois, nvo 1199 277-202
3 — II. Rutherford, John Riehmrn, a Typical Bnckwoodsnian ! 203 207
4 — Charles P. Kane.The Christian Church of Sprint/flrtd, Ills 208-314
5 — Ensley Moore. .1 Xotable Illinois Family 315-323
6 — K. Huskinson Shiifflette, TT/7/iV/wi IIu-Hinson 324-328
7 — Harriet R. Taylor. Simeon Francis 320-3.T1
8 — J. II. Btirnham, Report of Dedication of Monument to Victim* of hullnn
Creek Massacre, LaSalle County, Ills 33_ 341
9 — Report of the Secretary of the Society 345 34 S
10 — Report of the Treasurer of the Society ^*^
Necrologist's Report 351-359
EDITORIAL NOTE.
Following the practice of the Publication Committee in previous
years, this volume includes, besides the official proceedings and the
papers read at the last annual meeting, some essays and other matter
contributed during the year. It is hoped that these contributions to
State History may, in larger measure as the years go on, deserve their
title, and form an increasingly valuable part of the society's transac-
tions. The contributions are intended to include the following kinds
of material :
1. Hitherto unpublished letters and other documentary material.
This part of the volume should supplement the more formal and exten-
sive publication of official records in the Illinois historical collections,
which are published by the trustees of the State Historical Library.
2. Papers of a reminiscent character. These should be selected with
great care ; for memories and reminiscences are at their best an uncer-
tain basis for historical knowledge.
3. Historical essays or brief monographs, based upon the sources
and containing genuine contributions to knowledge. Such papers
should be accompanied by foot notes indicating with precision tlie au-
thorities upon which the papers are based. The use of new and original
material and the care with which the authorities are cited, will be one
of the main factors in determining the selection of papers for publica-
tion.
4. Bibliographies.
5. Occasional reprints of books, pamphlets, or parts of books now
out of print and not easily accessible.
It is the desire of the committee that this annual publication of the
society shall supplement, rather than parallel or rival, the distinctly
official publications of the State Historical Library. In historical re-
search, as in so many other fields, the best results are likely to be
achieved through the cooperation of private initiative with public au-
thority. It was to promote such cooperation and mutual undertaking
that this society was organized. Teachers of history, whether in
schools or colleges, are especially urged to do their part in bringing to
this publication the best results of local research and historical scholar-
ship.
In consideration it should be said that the views expressed in the
various papers are those of their respective authors and not necessarily
those of the committee. Nevertheless, the committee will be glad to
receive such corrections of fact or such general criticism as may appear
to be deserved.
MEMBERS OF THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SO-
CIETY, UP TO AND INCLUDING NOVEMBER, 1907.
HONORARY MEMBERS.
Addams, Miss Jane. . .Hull House, Chicago
*Boal, (Dr.) Robert Lacon, 111.
♦Bradwell, (Judge) James B
Chicago, 111.
Carr, (Hon.) Clark E Galesburg, 111.
Cullom, (Hon.) Shelby M.Springfield, 111.
Deneen, (Mrs.) Mary F
6553 Harvard av., Chicago, HI.
Edwards, (Mrs.) Benjamin S
Springfield, 111.
Harris, (Prof.) N. Dwight
. . .Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis.
Johnson, (Hon.) Charles P., Suite 212-
214 Temple Building, St. Louis, Mo.
Kane, (Mrs.) Caroline M. B
820 S. Second st., Springfield, 111.
*McClernand, (Gen.) John A
Springfield, 111.
McClernand, (Mrs.) John A
Springfield, III.
Mcllvaine, (Miss) Caroline M., Librar-
ian Chicago Historical Society
Chicago, 111.
Morrison, (Mrs.) I. L. . .Jacksonville, 111.
♦Palmer, (Gen.) John M. . Springfield, 111.
Palmer, (Mrs.) John M. . .Springfield, 111.
*RuggIes, (Gen.) James M... Havana, 111.
Selby, Paul. 5468 Monroe av., Chicago, 111.
Stevenson, (Hon.) Adiai E
Bloomington, 111.
♦Stuart. (Mrs.) John T. . .Springfield, 111.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, LL.D., Wis.
Historical Society Madison, Wis.
Turner, (Prof.) Frederick Jackson,
Ph. D., University of Wisconsin....
Madison, Wis,
Willard, (Dr.) Samuel
932 Fargo av., Chicago, 111.
♦Wilson, (Mrs.) Eliza Kincaid
Sterling, 111.
Yates, (Mrs.) Catherine G. (Mrs. Rich-
ard Yates, Sr. ) Jacksonville, 111.
Yates, (Hon.) Richard. . .Springfield, 111.
LIFE MEMBERS OF THE ILLINOIS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Barry, (Hon.) P. T
77-79 Jefferson st, Chicago, 111.
Borders, M. W
4050 Grand boul., Chicago, 111.
Gunther, C. F. .212 State st, Chicago, 111.
ACTIVE MEMBERS ILLINOIS STATE HISTORI-
CAL SOCIETY.
Adams, (Mrs.) Albyn
W. College ave., Jacksonville, 111.
Adams, J. C, Editor "The Peotone Ve-
dette" Peotone, 111.
Adams, J. R., Editor "The Mystic .
Worker" Piano, 111.
Ainsworth, Harry Moline, 111.
Aishton, R. H
1710 Wesley av., Evanston, 111.
Alschuler, (Hon.) Samuel. .. .Aurora, 111.
Alvord, (Prof.) Clarence W..Urbana, 111.
Ames, (Mrs.) John C Streator, 111.
Ames, (Mrs.) Lucy V. Semple
3824 Lindell Boul., St. Louis, Mo.
♦Anderson, Horace G Peoria, 111.
Anderson, (Hon.) Sumner S
Charleston. 111.
Atkins, (Gen.) Smith D Freeport, 111.
Austin, E. T Sterling, 111.
Austin, (Hon.) H. W
217 Lake st.. Oak Park, 111.
Bacchus, (Mrs.) Leroy
901 S. Park av., Springfield, 111.
Bachand Vertefeuille, Louis J., Editor
LeCourrier Canadian
421 W. Harrison st., Chicago, 111,
Bacon, Paul B
6517 Lexington av., Chicago, 111.
Baker, George B
Masonic Temple, Chicago, 111.
Baldwin, Jesse A
99 Washington st., Chicago, 111.
Ball, Farlin H
211 Clinton st.. Oak Park, HI.
Ball, (Judge) Farlin Q
207 Clinton av.. Oak Park, 111.
Bandy, Clarence G Paris, 111.
Bangs, J. E
6009 Kimbark av., Chicago, 111.
Bangs, (Mrs.) J. B
6009 Kimbark av., Chicago, 111.
Barker, H. E Springfield, 111.
Barker, (Mrs.) H. E
114 S. College st., Springfield, 111.
Bartlett, C. C 1109 Title and Trust
bldg., 100 Washington st. Chicago, 111.
Baugh, Joe. V., Editor The Mt. Vernon
News Mt. Vernon, 111.
Baxter, (Mrs.) Martha K. . . .Pawnee, 111.
Baxter, William G Winnetka. IlL
Beach, (Hon.) Myron H... 404-406 The
Rookery, 217 LaSalle st., Chicago, 111.
Beadles, (Rev.) William T. .. .Macon, 111.
Becker, J. W., Editor Jerseyville Re-
publican Jerseyville, 111.
♦Beckwith, (Judge) Hiram W
Danville, 111.
Beebe, Avery N Yorkville, 111.
Bell, (Hon.) Robert Mt Carmel, 11.
Belleville Advocate, Editor of
Belleville. 111.
Bender, (Mrs.) Inez J Decatur. 111.
Bentley, George L. L., Editor Tiie Elm-
wood Gazette Elmwcod, III.
Berry, Charles P Carmi, 111.
Berry, (Dr.) Daniel Carmi, 111.
Best, John B., M. D
Arlington Heights, 111.
XI
Members of the Illinois State Historical Society — Continued.
\
Beveriee, M. Hoy
^ \ :r. R. D. 2, Hinckley. 111.
BiroVh. Henry 485 (25th
house). Blue Island av., Cnicago, Ill-
Bishop, Charles Nelson. . . . .... ... . . • •
222 S. Grove St., Oak Park, III.
Black, George N A- •.• • V -.j" ■,,,
. .618 S. Second st., Springfield, 111.
Black. (Mrs.) George N. ............. .
.618 S. Second st., Sprinsfield, 111.
Blair. Edmund H Alton, 111.
Bliss, r. P. and Bliss, C. W.. Editors
The Montgomery News. . . Hillsboro, III.
Blocki. John ■. • ■ •. •
mo Michisan av., Chicago, 111.
Bodemann. (Dr.) Wilhelm. . . . . •
Lake av. and 50th st., Chicago, 111.
^ ' Avenue "state Bank, (Dak Park. 111.
Bowman. E. M riA"°°' i V
Bradford. S. B ?it.^^'^A
Bradshaw, Charles, Editor "The Pa-
^-j-iof Carrollton. 111.
Brandeniiurger. Peter • ; • V ' •" ' "^r
2343 Whittemore Place, St. Louis, Mo.
Braun. Thomas • • .- •
.3137 S. Park av., Chicago, 111.
Brevoort, J. H Rutland, 111.
Brewster. Thomas T. .........•••.• ■ • •
...-^02 Houser bldg., St. Louis, Mo.
Bridgman. I. M - • ■ ■ P?'o. Il|
Broadhead. G. C Columbia, Mo.
Brooks. (Miss) Mary E. ..........••• •
Bettie Stuart Institute, Springfield, 11 .
♦Brown, (Hon.) C. C Springfield, 111.
Brown. (Mrs.) C. C. ...... . ... • • • • • • •
833 S. Fourth st., Springfield, 111.
Brown, (Judge) Edward O......
400 N. State st., Chicago, 111.
BrVant. William C, Editor "Deutsche
Zeitung" Danville, 111.
Brydges, W. H •/••„•,■.•• "tii
•* *^ 077 Division st., Elgin, 111.
Buchanan. L. L . Winnetka 111.
Bucklin. George. Editor "The Grundy
Countv Sentinel" Morns I .
Burchard. (Hon.) Horatio .Freeport, I .
Burke. (Rev.) .T. J Bloomington, HI.
Biirnap. (Prof.) W. D. ....•••■•■• •• •
Lake Forest University, Lake Forest, II .
Burnham, (Capt.) J. H. .Bloomington, HI.
Burnett. (Rev.) John A..... I^l ' -t,!
317 N. Second st., Monmouth, 111.
Burns. James C Macomb, 111.
Burt. J, J. & Son, Editors "The Henry
Times" o-.H'^fi m' ? '
♦Bush. (Hon.) J. M Pittsfie'd, I .
Butcher. TJ. G Astoria, 111.
Butz, Otto • • ..- ■ ■ • • • ,,
100 Washington st.. Chicago, III.
Bvrnes, Daniel w V ' n^- •o^^'^^Tii
502 ''lo Jackson Boul., Chicago, 1} .
Byron. Eddie Sullivan. 111.
^^'^°"' . .5405 'Madison av., Chicjigo, lU-
Callender, EHiot. . .^ . .^..^^^. -^^^^^ -^^
Campbell, Charles B.. . . . ---^-^ ' j,,
Cantweil, Robert E a;,;""^" ^Vn
Waller av.. Austin Station, Chicago, I .
Capen. Charles I Bloomington. 1 .
Capps. Thornton G .Greenfie d. I .
Carlin. W. E Jersey viUe, HI.
Carpenter, George A • ■ • • ,
^ .28 Portland Block, Chicago, 111.
Carpenter, Richard V., Secy. V.o<>n>-
County Historical Society
Belvldcre. 111.
Carriel, (Mrs.) Mary Turner
Jacksonville, III.
Carruthers, (Dr.) George C
Springfield. 111.
Carter, Edward C
. . . .412 Greenwood boul., Evanston, III.
Castle. J. B., Editor "The Sandwich
Argus" Sandwich. 111.
Caswell, Charles L
. . .630 Opera House Block, Chicago. 111.
Chamberlin, M. H., LL. D.. President
McKendree College Lebanon, III.
Chapman. Asa Mahomet, 111.
Charleston Dally News, Editor of
Charleston. II!.
Charleston Public Library
Charleston, III.
Chenerv, (Miss) M. Frances
Fifth St. and Enos av.. Springfield, III.
Chenoweth, William J., M. D
Chicago, 111.
Cherrv, (Mrs.) Mary B
...1112 N. Evans st.. Bloomington. 111.
Christian, Frank B
5313 Bishop .St.. Chicago. 111.
Clark. (Prof.) Olynthus, Drake Univer-
sitv. Des Moines, Iowa
.3005 Cottage Grove av., Des Moines. Iowa
Clark. Russell S
1105 Chamber of Commerce. Chicago. 111.
Clarv. (Prof.) J. M, President of Gr.er
College Hoopeslon. 111.
Clay, Merton J ■ • • •
.215 Jackson loul.. Chicago. III.
Clendenin. (Hon.) H. W. . .Springfield, HI.
Cleveland. J. F a: ■■■:•„,
709 Superior st.. Oak Park, III.
Clifford. .Tames E Phlllipstown. HI.
Clinton. J. W Po'o. 111.
Coble, Robert K • • • :•••„,
1414 Dempster st. Evanston, III.
Coibv.' (5uv I Springfield. 111.
Coleman. (Miss) Mary ^-ogan ........ ■
.First and Miller St.. Springfield. 111.
Collins. (Prof.) J. H ^■■.- ' Uii' Vn
715 S Seventh st., Springfield. 11.
Coilins. (Hon.) W. H Q'l'l*^-^- ! •
Colyer. Walter • • • • -^ '' i JJ-a
Congdon, George E Sac City. Iowa
Conkllng. (Hon.) Clinton T.... ..■•,• •
802 S. Second st.. Springfield. III.
Coniciing. (Mrs.) Clinton J.'- •••■•• „,
802 S. Second St.. Springfield. II .
Converse. Ira C Sandwich. 1 .
Cook J S I.eRoy, III.
Cooper. (Hon.) J. L ^ ■'""''■" f' 'I' III-
Couch. E. B Hanna City, .
Coulter. (Dr.) A. P ^'.,"o''«'"'A.i
Coulter. John H •.\--J,'H" '"'',,,
cago Stock Exchange bldg.. Chlc.igo. .
Covev C C Farmer ( Ity. III.
Covey.' (ilon.) Frank D- •• •»<^'^'']^;;;;- Vn
Covle, P. W Al<o°- "'•
Crabbe, (Mrs.) Ha"'*"*: ^"'™r^,„;,- T/i-a
Corpus I. hrlstl. l<xas
Crabbe.' O^irs.^) ,;T:„D;,i Vt.'.'Sprlngfl'eld.' 'ui.
Crandon. Frank {;- -^^ -.; ; E,„„«ton."lU.
^;^S'^.,^.:-or'Pol;';^^^^^^
Weekly Visitor ■ P«'«- •
rPhs. John M • ■.•.* "L"]' •
Crawford. F. j'. Kdltor I'olo ^Soml;^
?kly
Crews, •a^.rF.'k::;:::Belleflowcr. lU.
Crebs. John
XII
Members of the Illinois State Historical Society — Continued.
€rihfleld Bros., Eds. The Atlanta Argus.
Atlanta, 111.
Crowder, (Mrs.) Martha Tomlin
926 Governor St., Springfield, 111.
Crowder, Thomas J
926 Governor st., Springfield, 111.
Culver, James S
.325 N. Fifth st., Springfield, 111.
Cunningham, Charles S Flora, 111.
Cunningham, (Flon.) G. W....Pekin, 111.
Cunningham, (Judge) J. O. .Urbana, 111.
Currey. J. Seymour, Pres. Evanston
Historical Society Evanston. 111.
Gushing, (Prof.) J. P...New Haven, Conn.
Cushman, Mary S. Ames (Mrs. Way-
man C.)
3824 Lindell boul., St. Louis Mo.
Cyrus, George W., Editor The Camp
'Point Journal Camp Point, 111.
Dadant, C. P Hamilton, 111.
Davis, George P Bloomington, 111.
Davis, J. McCan Springfield, 111.
Davis, (Mrs.) J. McCan. . .Springfield, 111.
Davis, W. W Sterling, 111.
♦Dearborn, (Hon.) Luther M
...Title and Trust bldg., Chicago, 111.
Degge, A. R Petersburg, 111.
Dent, Thomas Portland
Block. 107 Dearborn st., Chicago, HI.
Dew. Jere. Tl 818-
821 N. Y. Life bldg., Kansas City, Mo.
Dewev. (Dr.) Grace Jacksonville, 111.
Dicke'rman, Luke. . . .Stillman Valley, 111.
Dieffenbacher, (Miss) Martha M
Havana, 111.
* Dieffenbacher, Philip L Havana. 111.
Dilg, Charles A 606
Diversv boul., Lake View, Chicago, 111.
Dilg, Philip H 1727
Oakdale av.. Lake View, Chicago, 111.
Diller, Isaac R
...511 W. Carpenter st., Springfield. 111.
Dougherty. N. C Peoria, HI.
Douglass, W. A
417 N. Kenilworth av., Oak Park, 111.
DuBois. Agnes E
.... Hotel Columbine. Los Angeles, Cal.
Dunn, (Mrs.) Julia Mills Moline, 111.
Dupuy, (Hon.) George A
2625 N. Paulina St., Chicago, 111.
Dyche. (Mrs.) F. B. (Grace Scripps
Dvche)
. . . 1896 Sheridan Road, Evanston, 111.
Eberhardt, Max
436 Ashland boul., Chicago, 111.
Ebert, Albert E
276 Michigan av., Chicago, 111.
Edens, Wm. Grant
6156 Greenwood Ave., Chicago
Edwards, Albert S
430 S. Eighth St., Springfield, 111.
Edwards, (Dr.) Richard
1401 Park st., Bloomington, 111.
Elgin Scientific Society Elgin, 111.
Elliott, (Rev.) J. C Swanwick, 111.
Englemann, (Mrs.) Mary K
Forest Road. Clifton Park, Lakewood.O.
Enos. (Miss) Katherine I
.....434 N. Second St., Springfield. 111.
Ensign, W. O., M. D Rutland, 111.
Eschmann, (Rev.) C. J
Prairie du Rocher, 111.
Evanston Illinois Public Library
Evanston. 111.
Fairbank, (Rev.) John. . Jacksonville. 111.
Fancher, (Miss) Grace Doug-
las av. and Governor St., Springfield, 111.
Farrand, James A Griggsville. 111.
*Faxon, E. W Piano, HI.
Felmley, (Prof.) David Normal, 1111.
Ferguson, Albert C
4551 Ellis av.. Chicago, 111.
Fisher, Albert Judson, (Historian Illi-
nois Society Sons of the American
Revolution) '
604 Masonic Temple, Chicago, 111.
Fitzwilliam, (Mrs.) Sarah E. Raymond
4824 Vincennes av., Chicago, 111.
Flagg, Norman G Moro, 111.
Folsom, ^Ym. R.Chicago Title and Trust
Co., 100 \yashington st., Chicago, 111.
Foote, John Crocker
Belvidere, 111.
Forbes, (Prof. ) S. A
University of Illinois, Urbana, 111.
Forsythe, William K
3100 State st., Chicago, 111.
Freer, Archibald E
...112 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, 111.
Freer, Lemuel H Hinsdale, 111.
French, (Dr.) A. W
324 W. Monroe st., Springfield, 111.
Fuller, David Galesburg, 111.
Funk, (Hon.) D. M Bloomington, 111.
Funk. (Hon.) Lafayette. Bloomington, HI.
Furlong. James
400 S. Ninth st., Springfield, 111.
Gale. E. O
347 Lake st.. Oak Park, 111.
Garrett. T. M
301 Ontario St., Chicago, HI.
Gillespie, Joseph
418 N. McLean st., Lincoln, 111.
Gillespie, Matilda (Mrs. David)
418 N. IMcLean st., Lincoln. 111.
Godle.v, (Mrs.) Frank
627 Kevs av., Springfield. 111.
Goff. (Rev.) Charles S Flat Rock. 111.
Goodwillie, David S
328 Forest av.. Oak Park. 11'.
Gough. (Miss) Sarah M El Paso, 111.
Graham. Hugh J
9.34 S. Second st, Springfield. 111.
Graham, James M
....413 S. Seventh St., Springfield, HI.
Grassly, C. N
287 W. Twelfth st, Chicago, III.
Gray, Lucian Lewistown, 111.
GraV. Robert A Blue Mound. 111.
Greene, (Prof.) Evarts B
University of Illinois. Urbana, 111.
Greenfield. George W Sandwich, 111.
Gridlev. J. N Virginia. Ill
Gridley. ( Mrs. ) W. H 515
W. South Grand Ave., Springfield. 111.
Griflith, (Mrs.) B. M
618 S. 6th St. Springfield. 111.
Griggs, (Hon.) Clarence. .. .Ottawa. 111.
Grimfield Bros, Editors The Atlanta
Argus Atlanta. 111.
Gi-oss, Lewis M Sycamore, 111.
Gross. W. L Springfield. 111.
Grover, Frank R
Hinman ave., Evanston. HI.
Ilagler. (Dr.') Elmer E Springfield, HI.
Haines. James Pekin, 111.
Hall. Charles G
525 N. Grove av.. Oak Park, 111.
Hall. F. H.. Editor Joliet Weekly News
Joliet. 111.
Hall. Ross C
309 S. Scoville av.. Oak Park. HI.
Hardacre. O. V.. Editor "The Lawrence
Co. News" Lawrenceville, 111.
Hart. W. O., Louisiana Historical So-
ciety ■ New Orleans, La.
XIII
Mciiibcis of the Illinois State Historical Societx — Continuctl.
Harvey, B. A Mount Carmul, 111
Harvick, Arthur L Vienna, III.
Haskell, (Dr.) W. A Alton, 111.
Hatfleld. ( Dr. ) Marcus 1'
1412 Heywortli bids.. Chicago, 111.
Hatton, Frederick Hammond
1512 Chicago av., Evanston, 111.
Hav, Charles E
.' 821 S. 2nd St., Springfield, 111.
Hay, Logan •
S. W. Grand av., Springfield, 111.
Hays, Howard H Metropolis, 111.
Head, William R • „
54G7 Jefferson av., Chicago, 111.
Healv, Daniel M
1244 First National Bank bldg. . . .
Chicago, 111.
Heinl, Frank J Jacksonville, 111.
Henderson, John G
,1828 Oakdale av., (1st flat) Chicago, 111.
Henninger, (Prof.) J. W
(3433 Monroe av., Chicago, III.
Herrick, L. E
4209 Indiana av., Chicago, 111.
Heurtley, Arthur
418 Forest av.. Oak Park, 111.
Hewick, Willis S ,
. . .420 N. Oak Park av.. Oak Park, 111.
Hinrichsen (Miss) Savillah T
1127 S. 3rd st., Springfield, 111.
Hoffman, U. J Springfield, 111
Hollenback, George M
44 N. View St., Aurora, 111.
Holmes, F. E., Editor The Dundee
Hawkeye . Dundee, 111.
HoUister, ( Dr. ) J. H
3430 Rhoades ave., Chicago, 111.
Holmes. Manfield J Normal, HI.
Hood, George P
202 Hastings st.. Grand Rapids. Mich.
*Hood, (Dr.) H. H Litchfield, 111.
Hood (Mrs.) H. H
321 Union av, Litchfield, III.
Hoople, F. C. .899 Osgood st., Chicago, 111.
Hostetter, A. B
2 Munger ter., Duluth, Minn.
Hostetter, C. L Mt. Carroll, 111.
Houston. J. W
....Farmers' State Bank, Berwick, 111.
Hubble, Emily R. (Mrs. Lee. J.)
Monmouth. 111.
Hull. Charles E., Editor "The Salem
Herald Advocate" Salem, 111
Humphrev, ( Judge) J. Otis
725 S. 7th St., Springfield, 111.
Hunt. A. B
222 Randolph St., Chicago, 111.
Hunter, (Col.) William C
. . . .133 S. Oak Park av.. Oak Park, 111.
Huskinson. George Alton, 111.
Hutchins, George W La con, 111.
Illinois Colored Historical Society ....
Springfield. 111.
Inghram. J. T Quincy, HI.
Jackson, Stuart W Mount Clair. N. J.
•lames. Edmund J., Pres. University of
Illinois Urbana. Champaign
James. J. A., Northwestern rniversity.
Evanston, 111.
James, James (T'harles
85 Galena st., Aurora, 111.
Jamieson. Thomas M
450S Woodlawn av.. Chicago, 111.
Jayne, Dr. William .•••.•;;••,,,
507 Enos av., Springfield, 111.
Jessup, Theodore : • • "^
..513 W. Sixth av., Columhus. O.
Johns, George W Fairfield, 111.
Johns, (Judgii William C. .. Decatur, III.
Johnson, (Judge) II. \V ....Ottawa, 111.
Johnson. Stewart WInni-tka, 111.
Jones, (Miss) Emma I'
1131 S. (Uh St., Springfield, III.
Jones, (.Miss) Lottie E
112 W. .North St.. Danville, 111.
Kane, (.ludge) Charles 1'
1001 S. 2nd St., Springfield, 111.
Kauffman, Horace G Oregon, III.
Ken, John, Jr Fairfield, III.
Kelly, George T
1211 Michigan av., Evanston, III.
Kemp, E. F..is;4 LaSalle st.. Chicago, III.
•Keplev, Ilenrv B Eflingliam, III.
♦Kerrick, (Hon.) L. H . . Bloomlngton, III.
Kimball, (Rev.) Clarence O
La Junta. Colo.
Kimzey. (Prof.) Walter R..DuCjuoln, 111.
Kincaid, Lee Athens, III.
Kirby, (Hon.) Edward P
Jacksonville. 111.
Kiikman, M. M Evanston. III.
Kniskern, W. B
4849 Greenwood av., Chicago, 111.
Kiselbach, Otto Mendota. III.
Koons, G. J Murphysboro, 111.
Lambert, (Mrs.) Belle Short (Mrs. E.
C.) Jacksonville. 111.
Lampert, (Mrs.) Clara Lampert
Belvldere. III.
Latham, (Miss) May Lincoln, III.
Laube. Herbert D Polo. III.
Law Register Pub. Co., The Law Regis-
ter 303 E. Erie st., Chicago. III.
Lear, ( Mrs. ) Mary S
. ..Brighton Northumberland Co..
Ontario. Can.
Lear. Walter Edwin. Ph. D.. LL. D.,
(Chancellor Anglo-.Vmerican l niver-
sity) Brighton. Ontario. i"an.
Le'ffiiigwell, (Rev.) Charles W
Knoxville. 111.
Leiiimers, C. A.. Editor "The Wood-
stock Republican" Woodstock. III.
Lewis, (Ilon.l Ira W... Dixon. III.
Lewis, J. B.. Editor "The Marlon
Countv Democrat" Salem, III.
Lewis, (Mrs.) Melissa «••••••■••■••,,,
503 S. 7th St., Springfield, IIL
Little, .John S Rushvlll.;. III.
Lillv. (Mrs.) John P., editor "The Sat-
urday Herald w^"' ''?,"• I *
Lodge, William F Montlcello. 111.
Long, G. Frank •. • • , ■ V '. V in
524 W. Vine st., Springfield, 111.
Longworth. Abel *'lay City. III.
Lord, D. M • • ,,,
' 54.50 Cornell a v.. ( lilcapo. III.
Lord,' (Mrs. ) F. W Piano III.
Lowe, Leo IL, editor "Kewanee W eeklj^
Star Courier" Kewanee,
Lowry, (Hon.) Thomas . ■ • • ■ • ■
Minneapolis, Minn.
III.
Lumaghl, Joseph ,- ' : ' i.
, 411 Olive St.. St. Louis. Mo.
Lvman. Edson W ; • ,■,■ ' ,' ' ■m
'. . 405 N. Oak Park av.. Oak Park. ill.
McAdams, Wl'llam. Sr . ... ... ■■ ■■ ■
R R. No. l.i. Kansas, ill.
McCiigg ' i:". ' B . '. . t;7 Cass st., Chlcngo. III.
McCalmont, Samuel M Morrison. Ill
McClelland. Thomas . ;,;•,• 1 " " n,
ICl Randolph st.. Chicago, III.
McComii, James J • • • ,
4tiO N. Ilovne av.. Chicago, II .
McConiier. G. M Wlnnotka, III.
XIV
Members of the Illinois State Historical Society — Continued.
McCormick, (Prof.) Henry.. State Nor-
mal University Normal, III.
*McCulloch, (Judge) David. . .Peoria, 111.
McDonald, L., editor "Phoenix Adver-
tiser" Lockport, 111.
McDowell, S. K LeRoy, 111.
McGlynn, P. S., editor "The Moline Re-
view-Dispatch" Moline, 111.
Sentinel-Democrat Alton, 111.
Mclnerney, J. J., editor "The Alton
McLean County Historical Society ....
Bloomington, 111.
McManis, C. J Princeton, 111.
McNeelv, T. W Petersburg, 111.
McPike, H. G Alton, 111.
Mann, Ralph Curtis Philo, 111.
Mannv, (Hon.) Walter I
Mt. Sterling, 111.
Harmon, Mrs.) W. W. .Bloomington, 111.
Marney, John D Springfield, 111.
Marshall (Judge) A. O Joliet, 111.
Matheny, James H
807 S. 7th St., Springfield, 111.
Matthews, (Hon.) A. C Pittsfield, 111.
Matthews, Mrs.) E. A Carlinville, 111.
Maxey, B. M., editor "Flora Journal'..
Flora, 111.
Mead. Homer, M. D Camden, 111.
Mead, Mary Ward, M. D. . . .Camden, 111.
Meese, (Hon.) William A Moline, III.
Merritt, (Hon.) E. L Springfield, 111.
Miller, Bertha R. (Mrs. I. G.)
811 Park av„ Springfield, 111.
Miller. (Mrs.) Flo. J Wilmington, 111.
Miller, John E East St. Louis, 111.
Miller, (Mrs.) Mary P
1405 N. 4th St., Springfield, 111
Milligan, (Dr.) Josephine
Jacksonville, 111.
Mills, Albert T
1299 W. Macon st., Decatur, 111.
Mills. Richard W
. . 1260 W. College av., Jacksonvile, 111.
Miner, (Dr.) James Winchester, 111.
Miner, Lewis H
1709 S. 6th St., Springfield, 111.
Miner, (Mrs.) Lewis H
1709 S. 6th St., Springfield, 111.
Mitchell. H. B
112 S. Spring av., LaGrange, 111.
Montooth, (Mrs.) C. S DuQuoin, 111.
Moore, Clara (Mrs. Ensley)
Jacksonville, 111.
Moore, (Hon.) Ensley. .Jacksonville. 111.
Moore, (Col.) Risdon M
San Antonio, Texas
Morris, Henry C
4442 Grand boul., Chicago, la.
♦Moses. Adolph,"The Temple," Chicago, III.
Moss. John R Mt. Vernon, HI.
Mt. Vernon News Co., Pub
Mt. Vernon, 111.
Munsell. W. W
1106 Monadnock bldp' Chicago, 111.
Munson. William A
309 N. Harvey av. Oak Park, 111.
Myers, (Hon.) Colostin D
Bloomington. i;i.
Nelson, William E
804 W. Williams St., Decatur, 111.
Nelson, William T
142 W. Garfield boul.. Chicago, 111.
Newsan. Richard. .703, 5th av., Peoria, II. 1
Nixon. U. S Alton, 111.
Norton, (Hon.) W. T Alton, 111.
O'Connell, (Hon.) John T
966 Flournoy St.. Chicago, 111.
Odenweller, A. L Frederick, 111.
Orendorff, (Hon.) Alfred
725 S. 2nd st., Springfield, 111.
Orendorff, (Hon.) John B
Bloomington. 111.
Orendorff, Julia W. (Mrs. Alfred)
725 S. 2nd st., Springfield, I'l.
Osborne, (Miss) Georgia L
Jacksonville, 111.
Ott, Edwin
219 N. Euclid av., Oak Park, 111.
Paddock, Gains
R. F. D. No. 1, Moro, HI.
Page, (Prof.) E. C
Northern Illinois Normal School ....
DeKalb, 111.
*Palmer, Ellen R. (Mrs. John Mayo) . . .
Chicago, HI.
Palmer, (Dr.) George Thomas
Springfield, 111.
Palmer, G. M
..603 E. Stoughton St., Champaign, 111.
♦Palmer, (Hon.) John Mayo. .Chicago, 111.
Parker, C. M Tay'.orville, 111.
Parkinson. D. B Carbondale, 111.
Patton, James W
937 S. 4th St., Springfield, 111.
Patton, (Mrs.) James W
937 S. 4th St., Springfield, 111.
PauUin. George W
1837 Wesley av., Evanston, 111.
Payne, William T
119-121 LaSalle st., Chicago, II.
Pearce, J. R Quincv, 111.
Pearson. (Hon.) J. M Godfrey, 111.
Peoria County Historical Society
Peoria, 111.
Perkins, F. E Sandwich, 111.
Perrin, (Hon.) J. Nick. .. .Belleville, 111.
Pettit, Guy V., editor "Reynolds Press"
Reynolds, 111.
Phillips, Edward O St. Louis, Mo.
Phillips, Winfield S Ridgeway, 111.
♦Pierce, Frederick Clifton, Vice Presi-
dent and Sec. Sherman Historical
Association Chicago, 111.
Pitner. (Dr.) T. J Jacksonville, 111.
Polo Historical Society Polo, 111.
Porter. (Capt.) Thomas J
Lock box 44, Chicago, 111.
Post, (Judge) Philip S Galesburg, 111.
Postle, (Dr.) J. M D?Kalb. HI.
Prince. Ezra M Bloomington, 111.
Putnam. (Prof.) J. W., University of
Missouri Columbia, Mo.
Pyle, (Prof.) J. Oscar
Ewing College. Bwing, 111.
Quayle, Robert
233 N. Harvey av.. Oak Park, 111.
Quincy Germania Printing & Pub. Co.
"The Quincy Germania". . .Quincy, 111.
Quincy Historical Society ....Quincy ,111.
Rahm'eyer. Mrs. B. F. (Lonise Hood
Rahineyer)
No. 150 Pontenciana Intramuros,
Manila, Philippine Islands
Rammelkamp. (Prof.) C. H.. President
Illinois College Jacksonville, 111.
Rapp, J. M Fairfield, 111.
♦Raymond. James H
Suite 1513-15 Monadnock. bldg.,
Chicago, 111.
Redfield. J. B
....621 Washington boul., Chicago, 111.
Reeves, (Mrs.) Kate K. . .Springfield, 111.
Reeves. (Judge) W. W Tusco'a, 111.
Reul, J. G Mendota, 111.
Richards, R. C Geneva, 111.
XV
Members of the Illiuois State Historical Society — Continued.
Rice, George S
574 Ingleside Park, Evanston, III.
Richardson, D. H
120 W. 2nd St., Belvidere, 111.
Ridgelv, (Mrs.) Charles
631 S. 4th St., Springfield, 111.
Roherts, Prof. L., Western State iNormal
School Macomb, 111.
Roberts. Peyton Monmouth, 111.
Robinson, (Miss) Margaret H
520 S. 8th St.. Springfield, 111.
Rogers. (Rev.) James E., Ph. D.. LL.
D. ...7th & Bergen sts, Springfield. 111.
Roosa, (Mrs.) S. V Springfield, 111.
Rose, (Hon.) James A
530 S. 5th St., Springfield, 111.
Rose, (Mrs.) James A
530 S. 5th St., Springfield, 111.
Rounds. H. E., editor "The North Shore
News" Rogers Park, 111.
Routson. Clarence M. . . .Farmington, 111.
Rowland, J. R , Avon, 111.
Russel. Andrew Jacksonville, 111.
Rutledge, J. E
Rutledge Coal Co., St. Louis, Mo.
Sanders, (Col.) George A
508 S. 7th St., Springfield, 111.
Sattley, (Miss) Olive
S. 2nd St., Springfield, 111.
Sayler, H. L
138 Jackson boul., Chicago, 111.
Scherer, Andrew
383 N. State St., Chicago, 111.
Schmict, (Dr.) Otto L
3328 Michigan av., Chicago, 111.
*Schneck, Jacob, M. D...Mt. Carmel, 111.
Schoolcraft, (Prof.) H. L Urbana, 111.
Schroter, Fred J
5244 Greenwood av.. Chicago, 111.
Scott, Edgar S
1707 S. 6th St., Springfield, 111.
Scott. (Mrs.) Julia G. (Mrs. M. T.)...
Bloomington, 111.
Scoville, C. B
Colorado Court, Pasadena, Calif.
Seil, W. J., editor "Grayville Mercurv"
Gravville. 111.
Sharpe, C. A
208 N. Euclid av.. Oak Park, 111.
Sheets. J. M Oblong. 111.
Sheppard, (Prof.) R. D
Northwestern University, Evanston. 111.
Siblev. (Dr.) Frank C Carmi, 111.
Siblev. H. F Fairfield, 111.
Siblev. (Dr.) W. C Fairfield, 111.
Silliman. E. C Chenoa, 111.
Silver (Miss) Anna Barnett
Rural Route 11, Urbana, 111.
Simpson. F. H Flora. 111.
Sloo, Thomas
1331 Third st., New Orleans, La.
Smith. C. B Wheaton. 111.
Smith. (Col.> D. C Normal. 111.
Smith. (Prof.1 George W.. Southern Illi-
nois Normal University. .Carbondale, 111.
Smith. Randolph
600 Mechanics Nat. Bank. St. Louis, Mo.
Smith. Thomas H
4407 Lake av.. Chicago, 111.
Snivelv, (Hon.) E. A
1230 S. 6th St., Springfield. 111.
Snivelv. (Mrs.) E. A
1230 S. 6th St., Springfield. Ill
Snvder. (Dr.) J. F Virginia. HI.
♦Souther, George H Springfield. 111.
Sparks, (Prof.) Edwin Erie. .Univer-
sity of Chicago., 5731 Monroe av..
„ Chicago, ni.
Sparks, H. B Alton, III.
Spear, S. L Springfield, 111.
Spence, M. II., editor 'Tho Elmwood
Gazette" Elmwood, 111.
Stearns, Arthur K
112-114 Genesee st., Wauk.-gan. 111.
Steenburg, Alice W. (Mrs. Alfred C.)
Farmington, 111.
Stennet, ( Dr. ) W. H
303 Lindon av.. Oak Park. III.
Stericker, Mrs. Louise B. (Mrs. Geo. F.)
624 S. 2nd St., Springfield, 111.
Stevens, F. E
1205 Chamber of Commerce buldg.,
Chicago, 111.
Stevens, William W Jollet, IIL
Steward. (Miss) Bertha Steward, 111.
Steward, John F
1880 Sheridan Rd., Chicago, 111.
Steward, Julian R Piano. 111.
Stewart. Charles S Dosplalnes. III.
Stice, Henrv Normal .III.
Stillwell, (Hon.) L Erio. Kas.
Strawn, (Judge) Halbert L Albion. I!l.
Strawn. John H Waynesburg, Pa.
Stringer. (Hon.) Lawrence B. .Lincoln, III.
Stubblefield. (Hon.) George W
Bloomington ,111.
*Stuve, (Dr.) Bernard . . Sprlngflfld, 111.
Swift, E. C Ottawa, 111.
Tauchan. (Mrs.) Marie
1012 W. Argvle. Irving Pk.. Chicago, III.
Tavlor, Charles R
815 S. 5th St., Springfield, 111.
Taylor, (Mrs.) Harriet Rumsey
815 S. 5th St., Springfield, 111.
Thacher, (Mrs.) Charles H
928 S. 2nd St., Springfield. 111.
Thayer, (Miss) Maude. .. .Springfield. III.
Thompson, Henrv Averv Galena. III.
Throgmorton. (Rev.) W. P... Marlon. 111.
Tietsort. H. W.. editor "The M.dora
Mes.senger" Medora. 111.
Todd. H. C
....620 N. Euclid av.. Oak Park, III.
Tomlin, (Mrs.) Eliza I. H
n04 S. Main st., Jacksonville, III.
Tompkins. W. H., editor "The I>iindee
Hawkeve" Dundee, III.
Towle, H. S ,
333 Oak Park av., Oak Park. III.
Towne. (Mrs.) Aurella
...227 N. Iloesman st., Rockford. III.
Tresallis. (Miss) Ida Astoria, III.
Trimble, (Miss) Clara E
. .No 20 W. 113th PI., Chicago, III
Tuthlli. (Judge) Richard S.. . . ■
..Fort Dearborn l>ldg.. Chlcigo, V\.
Tuttle. W. R E. St. Louis. 111.
Urech & Son. editors "The Mendon DIs
patch" Mondon, III.
Utterback. J. C, editor "The Republi-
can" Snlem. III.
Vandervoi-t. (Dr.) F. C. .Bloomington. II'.
Vandeveer, (Hon.) William T..... . ..
Taylorvllle. III.
•Vocice. (lion.) Wllllim. Pre.^ildont Ger-
man American Historical Sorloty
103-lOn Randolph st.. rhicago. HI.
Walte (Dr.) H. N Johnson. Vt.
Wnlkor. (Rev.) Edwin S. . . . . . . . . • • .
1125 S. 5th St.. Sprlnelleld. H!
XVI
Members of the Illinois State Historical Society — Concluded.
Walker, (Mrs.) Edwin S
1125 S. oth St., Springfield, 111.
* Wallace. Joseph Springfield, 111.
Waterman, (Judge) A. N
40 Groveland Park, Chicago, 111.
Watson, (Mrs. ) David A
205 N. Walnut st., Springfield, 111.
Way, Virgil G Proctor, 111.
Weber, (Mrs.) Jessie Palmer
Springfield, 111.
Weis, Edward W.. M. D Ottawa, III.
Wells, Frederick Latimer . . . Wheaton, 111.
Wertz, (Miss) Adda P. .Carbondale, 111.
West, Simeon H LeRov, 111.
Wheeler, C. Gilbert
14 State St., Chicago, 111.
Wheeler, (Mrs.) Katherine Goss
Sprinsfleld, III.
♦Wheeler, (Judge) Samuel P
Springfield, 111.
*Wightman, G. P Lacon, 111.
Wilderman, (Miss) Augusta A
Felleville. 111.
Wiles, (Mrs.) Alice Bradford (Mrs. R.
H. I...5T11 Woodlawn av., Chicago, 111.
Williamson, Oliver, care "The Interior"
Chicago, 111.
Willcox, E. S Peoria, 111.
Williams, W. W Litchfield, Ills.
Withers, Henry C Carrollton, 111.
♦Wohlgemuth, Henry, M. D
Springfield, 111.
Woltersdorf. Louis
360 Ashland boul., Chicago, 111.
Woodworth, A. P Robinson, 111.
Woolard, F. M
..530 Wauwatosa av., Wauwatosa, Wis.
Woolard, William F
U. S. Patent Office, Washington D. C.
Worthington, (Hon.) Thomas
Jacksonville, 111.
Worthington, (Mrs.) Thoma.s
Jacksonville, 111.
Wright, Joseph . ;
811 Park av., Springfield, 111.
Wyckoflf. (Dr.) Charles T. (Bradley
Polytechnic Institute) Peoria. 111.
Young, J. H Oakwood, lU.
Zeller, (Rev.) J. C
..507 E. Chestnut St., Bloomington. HI.
XVII
CONSTITUTION OF THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY.
Article 1 — Name and Objects.
Section 1. The name of this society shall be the Illinois State Historical
Society.
§ 2. The objects for which it is formed are to excite and stimulate a gen-
eral interest in the history of Illinois; to encourage historical research and
investigation and secure its promulgation; to collect and preserve all forms
of data in any way bearing upon the history of Illinois and its people.
Article II — Officers of the Society — Their Election and Duties.
Section. 1. The management of the affairs of this society shall be vested
in a board of fifteen directors of which board the president of the society
shall be ex-offlcio a member.
§ 2. There shall be a president and as many vice-presidents, not less than
three, as the society may determine at the annual meetings. The board of
directors, five of whom shall constitute a quorum, shall elect its own presid-
ing officer, a secretary and treasurer, and shall have power to appoint from
time to time such officers, agents and committees as they may deem advisable,
and to remove the same at pleasure.
§ 3. The directors shall be elected at the annual meetings and the mode
of election shall be by ballot, unless by a vote of a majority of members pres-
ent and entitled to vote, some other method may be adopted.
§ 4. It shall be the duty of the board of directors diligently to promote
the objects for which this society has been formed and to this end they shall
have power:
(1). To search out and preserve in permanent form for the use of the peo-
ple of the State of Illinois facts and data in the history of the State and of
each county thereof, including the pre-historic periods and the history of the
aboriginal inhabitants, together with biographies of distinguished persons
who have rendered services to the people of the State.
(2). To accumulate and preserve for like use, books, pamphlets, news-
papers and documents bearing upon the foregoing topics.
(3). To publish from time to time for like uses its own transactions as
well as such facts and documents bearing upon its objects as it may secure.
(4). To accumulate for like use such articles of historic interest as may
bear upon the history of persons and places within the State.
(5). To receive by gift, grant, devise, bequest or purchase, books, prints,
printings, manuscripts, libraries, museums, moneys and other property real
or personal in aid of the above objects.
(6). They shall have general charge and control under the direction of the
board of trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, of all property so
received and hold the same for the uses aforesaid in accordance with an Act
of the Legislature approved May 16. 1902, entitled "An Act to add a new sec-
tion to an Act entitled an Act to establish the Illinois State Historical Library
and to provide for its care and maintenance, and to make appropriations
— B H S
XVIII
therefor," approved May 25, 1889, and in force July 1, 1889; they shall make
and approve all contracts, audit all accounts and order their payment, and
in general see to the carrying out of the orders of the society. They may
adopt by-laws not inconsistent with this constitution, for the management of
the affairs of the society; they shall fix the time and places for .their meet-
ings, keep a record of their proceedings, and make report to the society at its
annual meetings.
§ 5. Vacancies in the board of directors may be filled by election by the
remaining members, the persons so elected to continue in office until the next
annual meeting.
§ 6. The president shall preside at all meetings of the society, and in case
of his absence or inability to act, one of the vice-presidents shall preside in
his stead, and in case neither president nor vice-president shall be in attend-
ance, the society may choose a president pro-tempore.
§ 7. The officers shall perform the duties usually devolving upon such
officers, and such others as may from time to time be prescribed by the society
or the board of directors. The treasurer shall keep a strict account of all
receipts and expenditures and pay out money from the treasury only as di-
rected by the board of directors: he shall submit an annual report of the
finances of the society and such other matters as may be committed to his
custody to the board of directors within such time prior to the annual meet-
ing as they shall direct, and after auditing the same the said board shall
submit said report to the society at its annual meeting.
Abticle III — Membership.
Section 1. The membership of this society shall consist of five classes
to-wit: Active, life, affiliated, corresponding and honorary.
§ 2. Any person may become an active member of this society upon pay-
ment of such initiation fee not less than one dollar, as shall from time to
time be prescribed by the board of directors.
§3. Any person entitled to be an active member may upon payment of
twenty-five dollars be admitted as a "life member" with all the privileges of
an active member and shall thereafter be exempt from annual dues.
§4. County and other historical societies and other societies engaged in
historical or archeological research or in the preservation of the knowledge of
historic events, may upon the recommendation of the board of directors be
admitted as affiliated members of this society upon the same terms as to the
payment of initiation fees and annual dues as active and life members-
Every society so admitted shall be entitled to one duly accredited representa-
tive at each meeting of the society who shall during the period of his appoint-
ment be entitled as such representative to all the privileges of an active mem-
ber except that of being elected to office; but nothing herein shall prevent
such representative becoming an active or life member upon like conditions
as other persons.
§ 5. Persons not active nor life members but who are willing to lend
their assistance and encouragement to the promotion of the objects of this
society, may, upon recommendation of the board of directors, be admitted
as corresponding members.
§ 6. Honorary membership may be conferred at any meeting of the society
upon the recommendation of the board of directors, upon person? who have
distinguished themselves by eminent services or contributions to the cause of
history .
§ 7. Honorary and corresponding members shall have the privileges of
attending and participating in the meetings of the society.
XIX
Article IV— Meetings and Quorum.
Section 1. There shall be an annual meeting of this society for the elec-
tion of officers, the hearing of reports, addresses and historical papers and the
transaction of business at such time and place in the month of January in
each year as may be designated by the board of directors, for which meeting
it shall be the duty of said board to prepare and publish a suitable program
and procure the services of persons well versed in history to delivrr addresses
or read essays upon subjects germane to the objects of this organization.
§ 2. Special meetings of the society may be called by the board of direc-
tors. Special meetings of the board of directors may be called by the presi-
dent or any two members of the board.
§ 3. At any meeting of the society the attendance of ten members entitled
to vote shall be necessary to a quorum.
Abticle V — Amendments.
Section 1. The constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the
members present and entitled to vote, at any annual meeting: Provided.
that the proposed amendment shall have first been submitted to the board of
directors, and at least thirty days prior to such annual meeting notice of
proposed action upon the same, be sent by the secretary to each member of
the society.
ERRATA.
On page 72, for Rev. John I. Bergen, read h'ev. John G. Bergen.
On page 152, for Dr. John Going, read Dr. Jonathan Going.
On page 152, for Dr. Stoughton, read Dr. Stavghton.
On page 192, for Port Ann, read Fort Ann.
On page 229, for Bordon of Virginia, read Bouldin of Virginia.
On page 269, foot note, for Fanquier County Virginia, read Fauquier County
Virginia.
On page 303, for Col. E. D. Bake, read Col. E. D. Baker.
On page 318, for St. Marys, Hancock Co.. 111., read St. Mary.
For page 525 read page 325.
PART I.
Record of Official Proceedings.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ILLINOIS
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Supreme Court Room, State Capitol,
Springfield, III., Jan. 24-25, 1907.
Business Meeting, Thursday, Jan. 24, 1907, 10:00 O'clock. A. M.
Th eighth annual meeting of the Illinois State Historical .Society
was held in the Supreme Court Room of the State Capitol, Jan. 24-25,
1907.
The session opened on Thursday morning at 10:00 o'clock, with
the business meeting.
President Alfred Orendorff presided.
The society proceeded with the regular order of business.
The report of the secretary was read and approved. The report
of the treasurer was read and approved.
The president called for the reports of committees. Prof. E. B.
Greene, chairman of the Publication committee, made a verbal report
for that committee. Mr. C. \\\ Alvord made some remarks in re-
gard to the purposes and scope of the publications of the Illinois State
Historical Library, explaining the difference between the annual vol-
ume of the transactions of the Historical Society and the special publi-
cations of the library.
Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber reported for the Program committee,
and said that, as usual, she would refer the members of the society to
the program for this annual meeting as the result of the labors of that
committee. The Program committee, through Mrs. Weber, its chair-
man, urgently requested the members of the society to interest them-
selves in securing addresses of historic value and interest for the
annual meetings, and said that the committee will gladly welcome
any suggestions from the members of the society.
Capt. J. H. Burnham, chairman, reported for the committee on
Local Historical Societies.
The report of the committee on the Semi-Ccntcnnial of the Lincoln-
Douglas Debates was, in the absence of Chairman E. E. Sparks, read
by H. W. Clendenin, a member of the committee. This report was
referred to the incoming board of directors of the society.
The report of the committee on Genealogy and Genealogical Publi-
cations was called for and the report was read by Miss Georgia L.
Osborne, chairman of the comnu'ttee.
The report of the committee on Legislation was called for, and Dr.
M. H. Chamberlin, chairman, made some remarks in regard to the
legislation relating to historical subjects, which is now pending before
the General Assembly. Dr. Chamberlin explained the purposes of some
of the bills and asked that the members of the society take an interest
in them, and give the matter of such legislation, careful consideration,
He also stated that the committee on Legislation, to be appointed at
this session of the society, would take up the further work of this
committee.
The report of the committee on Membership was called for and a
letter was read from Charles L. Capen, chairman, who was unable to
be present.
These various reports were accepted and approved.
The election of ofificers for the ensuing year was then called for.
Mr. E. A. Snively moved that the president appoint a nominating com-
mittee. This motion was seconded and carried. The president ap-
pointed as the nominating committee :
Messrs. E. A. Snively, James H. Matheny, George B. Dawson, J. Nick Per-
rin. Smith. D. Atkins.
The committee retired for conference.
The president called for general and miscellaneous business. Miss
Maude Thayer, a delegate from the Illinois State Library Association
to the Society, reported that the library association was very anxious
to confer with the Historical Society on the subject of the advance-
ment of the study and collection of local historical material in the
various towns throughout the State. Mr. E. S. Willcox moved that
a special committee be appointed to confer with the State Library As-
sociation at its meeting to be held in Bloomington on February 22nd.
This motion was seconded and carried. The president appointed the
committee, of which Miss Maude Thayer was chairman, the other
members, being E. S. Willcox, E. M. Prince, Henry McCormick, Mrs.
Jessie Palmer Weber. Delegates from local historical societies were
asked to report.
The following societies were represented :
Peoria County Historical Society.
Morgan County Historical Society.
Macoupin County Historical Society.
McLean County Historical Society.
Woodford County Historical Society.
Madison County Historical Society.
An address was read by Mr. E. S. Willcox of Peoria. At the con-
clusion of Mr. Willcox's address, it was moved that a special com-
mittee be apopinted to report on the results of this conference. The
president appointed as this committee: Mr. Frank J. Heinl, of Jack-
sonville, chairman, and Messrs. John L Rinaker, of Carlinville, L. J.
Freese, of Eureka, J. H. Burnham, of Bloomington, T. J. Pittner, of
Jacksonville.
A motion was made by Mr. E. S. Willcox that the president appoint
a special committee to determine the correct pronunciation of the word
"Illinois." Mr. Willcox made as a part of his motion that the secretary
of the society be made chairman of this committee. The president
appointed a committee of the following members : Mrs. Jessie Palmer
Weber, chairman; Jesse A. Baldwin, Chicago; Francis G. Blair,
Springfield; E. J. James, Urbana; Mrs. Margaret M. Bangs, Pontiac;
Alfred Orendorff, ex-officio.
Mr. Snively, from the Nominating committee, stated that the com-
mittee was ready to make a report, and upon being directed to report,
the following named persons were recommended to the society as its
officers for the year, January 1907-08.
President, Gen. Alfred Orendorff, Springfield.
First Vice President, Hon. Clark E. Carr, Galesburg.
Second Vice President, Gen. Smith D. Atkins, Freeport.
Third Vice President, Hon. William Vocke, Chicago.
Board of Directors, Edmund Janes James, Ph. D., LL. D., president of the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign ; Hon. George N. Black, Springfield;
J. H. Burnham, Bloomington; M. H. Chamberlin, LL. D., president of Mc-
Kendree College, Lebanon; Hon. L. Y. Sherman, Macomb; Hon. David
McCulloch, Peoria; Evarts B. Greene, Ph. D., University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign; Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, Springfield; Edwin Erie Sparks, Ph.
D., University of Chicago, Chicago; Hon. William H. Collins, Quincy; Hon.
J. O. Cunningham, Urbana; Hon. Andrew Russell, Jacksonville; Prof. Geo.
W. Smith, Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale; Rev. C. J.
Eschmann, Prairie du Rocher; J. W. Clinton, Polo.
The report of this committee was received and Mr. Snively moved
that the secretary be directed to cast the ballot for the officers as rec-
ommended by the Nominating committee. This motion was seconded
by Dr. M. H. Chamberlin, and was carried. The secretary accordingly
cast the ballot and the persons recommended by the Nominating com-
mittee were duly declared elected officers of the society for the ensuing
year.
The secretary reported that the society had lost by death during
the past year, five of its honored members. Brief biographical notices
of each of these members was read by the secretary and on a motion,
which was adopted by a rising vote, the secretary was directed to
spread upon the records of the society these resolutions. The members
deceased are: J. M. Bush, Pittsfield; James H. Raymond, Chicago;
Dr. Jacob Schneck, Mt. Carmel ; Judge Samuel P. Wheeler, Spring-
field; and Major Geo. W. Wightman, Lacon.
The hour being late, the business meeting of the societv adjourned
with the understanding that at any convenient time during the annual
session, matters of business might be presented.
On Friday morning, at 9:00 o'clock, a symposium on the teaching
of State history, was called to order with President Orendorff in the
chair.
In the absence of Prof. J. A. James, of Evanston, who had ex-
pected to be in charge of the discussion. Prof. Geo. W. Smith, of Car-
bondale, acted as leader, and addressed the society at some length on
the subject of the real meaning of history. This was followed bv a
discussion of the subject in which Mr. Henry McCormick, State Su-
perintendent Francis G. Blair, Mr. J. Nick Perrin, Prof. W. H.
Brydges and Prof. J. H. Collins, each took part.
The secretary reported that the Board of Directors recommended
the following persons for honorary membership in the society :
Paul Selby, Chicago; Hon. Chas. S. Deneen, Springfield; Prof. B. F. Sham-
baugh, Iowa; Hon. J. P. Dunn, Indiana.
and on motion, the recommendation of the board of directors was
adopted, and the above named persons were elected honorary members
of the society.
At the close of the Friday evening session, it was morved that the
thanks of the society be extended to Hon. James A. Rose, Secretary of
State ; to the officials of the Supreme Court ; to Capt. R. J. Beck, Su-
perintendent of the Capitol Building ; to Miss Mary Billsbury, Chicago ;
to Mrs. Albert Myers, of Springfield; and to the other ladies and
gentlemen, musicians of Springfield ; and to the ladies of the local
committee on arrangements, for their kind and untiring efforts to add
to the pleasure and comfort of the State Historical Society at its an-
nual meeting ; and also to the press of Springfield for the full and sat-
isfactory reports of the sessions of this annual meeting. This motion,
was unanimously adopted.
The hterary sessions were carried out in accordance with the printed
program, and the eighth annual session of the society closed with a
reception in the Illinois State Library, at which the officers and mem-
bers of the societv received their friends.
DIRECTORS' MEETINGS.
The Board of Directors of the IlHnois State Historical Society met
in the Hbrarian's room of the State Historical Library, Thursday
morning, at 9 :oo o'clock, January 24th, 1907.
There were present:
President Alfred Orendorff, who presided; E. B. Greene, J. W. Clinton. J.
H. Burnham, Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber.
The secretary's report was read and approved. The treasurer's re-
port was read and approved.
Capt. J. H. Burnham moved that a committee be appointed to re-
vise the mailing list for the distribution of the publications of the
society. He made as a part of his motion, that the secretary be made
chairman of the committee. This motion was carried, and the president
was requested to appoint the committee. The secretary asked for in-
structions as to sending the publications to members of the society
whose dues are unpaid. The president was requested to appoint a
temporary committee for the purpose of considering this matter. It
was also moved that the secretary be made chairman of this committee,
There was a general discussion of the various bills in the interest
of historical research now pending before the General Assembly of the
State. It was the sense of the board that these various bills and the
interests which they represent receive careful consideration and the
committee on legislation be asked to aid in the passage of such of
them as are deemed favorable to the interests of the society.
Capt. J. H. Burnham suggested that the year 1908 would be the
semi-centennial of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and he moved that the
program committee be directed to take this fact into consideration in
preparing the program for the annual meeting of the year 1908, and
that the Program committee confer with the committee on the celebra-
tion of the semi-centennial of the Debates.
Mr. Burnham spoke of the proposed change in the Constitution of
the Society in regard to the time for holding the annual meetings.
This was discussed at some length and was referred to the Program
committee for action.
There being no further business, the Board of Directors adjourned
to meet at some time during the sessions of the annual meeting at the
call of the president.
At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Illinois State His-
torical Society, held in the ofifice of the clerk of the Supreme Court,
8
at II :i5 Friday morning, January 25, 1907, there were present: Pres-
ident Alfred Orendorff (who presided), Messrs. E. B. Greene, Geo.
W. Smith, J. W. CHnton, J. H. Burnham, and Mrs. Jessie Palmer
Weber.
On motion of Mr. E. B. Greene, Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber was
elected secretary and treasurer of the society for the year 1907- 1908.
On motion of Mr. E. B. Greene, Alfred Orendorff, the president
of the society, was elected chairman of the Board of Directors.
The following committees were appointed :
PtjBLicATioN Committee.
E. B. Greene. Urbana, Chairman.
George N. Black, Springfield. M. H. Cha'mberlin, Lebanon.
George W, Smith Carbondale. Jessie Palmer Weber, Springfield.
C. W, Alvord, Urbana. Stephen L. Spear, Springfield.
George W. Dupuy, Chicago. Alfred Orendorff, ex-offlcio.
Pbogram Committee.
Jessie Palmer Weber, Chairman.
J. H. Burnham, Bloomington. Mrs. Catherine Goss Wheeler, Sprlng-
J. A. James, Evanston. field.
Charles P. Kane, Springfield. Paul Selby, Chicago.
Logan Hay, Springfield. Edwin Erie Sparks, Chicago.
C. H. Rammelkamp, Jacksonville. Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Finance and Auditing Committee.
George N. Black, Springfield, Chairman.
E. J. James, Urbana. Jessie Palmer Weber.
Alfred Orendorff, ex offlcio.
Committe on Legislation.
M. H. Chamberlin, Lebanon, Chairman.
E. J. James, Urbana. George N. Black, Springfield.
Henry McCormick, Normal. E. A. Snively, Springfield.
Andrew Russell, Jacksonville. O. F. Berry, Carthage.
J. McCan Davis, Springfield. David McCulloch, Peoria.
R. V. Carpenter, Belvidere. Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Committee on Looal Histoeical Societies.
J. H. Burnham, Bloomington, Chairman.
David McCulloch, Peoria. Prank J. Heinl, Jacksonville.
George W. Smith, Carbondale. J. Seymour Currey, Evanston.
Eliot Callander, Peoria. Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
J. O. Cunningham, Urbana.
Committee on Membership.
Judge J. Otis Humphrey, Springfield, Chairman.
Charles L. Capen, Bloomington. Miss May Latham, Lincoln.
J. W. Clinton, Polo. J. Nick Perrin, Belleville.
Daniel Berry, M. D., Carmi. Wm. Jayne, M. D., Springfield.
John M. Rapp, Fairfield. George E. Dawson, Chicago.
Mrs. Thomas Worthington, E. M. Bowman, Alton.
Jacksonville. Dr. A. W. French, Springfield.
Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Committee on the Commemoration of the Semi-Centennial of the Lincoln-
Douglas Debates of 1858.
Hon. Clark E. Carr, Galesburg, Chairman.
E. C. Swift, Ottawa. Smith D. Atkins, Freeport.
Phillip S. Post, Galesburg. H. W. Clendenin, Springfield.
M. C. Crawford, Joneshoro. W. H. Collins, Quincy.
Sumner S. Anderson, Charleston. W. T. Norton, Alton.
E. E. Sparks, Chicago.
Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Committee on the Marking of Historic Sites in Illinois.
Edwin Erie Sparks, Chicago, Chairman.
Harry Ainsworth, Moline, Col. D. C. Smith, Normal.
Mrs. M. T. Scott, Bloomington. J. H. Collins, Springfield.
Reed Green, Cairo. Charles B. Campbell, Kankakee.
John B. Miller, East St. Louis. E. S. Willcox, Peoria.
Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Committee on Genealogy and Genealogical Publications
Georgia L. Osborne, Springfield, Chairman.
Mrs. E. G. Crabbe, Springfield, Mrs. E. S. Walker, Springfield.
Mrs. Thomas Worthington, Mrs. John C. Ames, Chicago.
Jacksonville.
Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Committee to Determine the Pronunciation of the Word "Illinois."
Jessie Palmer Weber, Chairman.
Jesse A. Baldwin, Chicago. B. J. James, Urbana-Champaign.
Francis G. Blair, Springfield. Mrs. Margaret M. Bangs, Pontiac.
Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
Committee on Revision of Mailing List for Distribution of the Publica-
tions of the Society.
Jessie Palmer Weber, Chairman.
James A. Rose, Springfield. J. H. Burnham, Bloomington.
Mrs. I. G. Miller, Springfield. W. H. Brydges, Elgin.
Alfred Orendorff, ex officio.
lO
Special Committee to Report on Results of Conference of Representatives
OF Local Historical Societies.
Prank J, Heinl, Jacksonville, Chairman.
John I. Rinaker, Carlinville. L. J. Freese, Eureka.
J. H. Burnham, Bloomington. T. J. Pltner, Jacksonville
Special Committee to Confer with Illinois State Library Association on
Relations Between Historical Society and Libraries.
Miss Maud Thayer, Springfield, Chairman.
E. S. Willcox, Peoria. E. M. Prince, Bloomington.
Henry McCormick, Normal. Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, Springfield.
On motion, the names of the following persons v^ere recommended
to the society, as proper persons upon whom to confer honorary mem-
bership in the Historical Society :
Mr. Paul Selby, Hon. Charles S. Deneen, Prof. B. F. Shambaugh, Hon. J.
P. Dunn, Indiana.
It was also moved, seconded and carried, that the report of the com-
mittee on Genealogy and Genealogical publications made to the society
by the chairman of the committee. Miss Osborne, be approved by the
board of directors, including recommendations made by the committee ;
and that the society be asked to ratify these recommendations of the
board of directors.
It was also voted that a committee on the revision of the lists for.
the distribution of the publications of the society be appointed by the
chairman. It was also voted that the secretary of the society be the
chairman of the committee on distribution of documents just men-
tioned.
The board of directors of the Illinois State Historical Society lec-
ommend to the society that the following named persons be made
honorary members of the society :
Paul Selby, who has borne so distinguished a part in the writing
of the history of the State, as well as being an active participant in
many of the most stirring events of that history.
Prof. Benjamin F. Shambaugh of the State University of Iowa,
who delivered before this society the brilliant annual address of last
evening and whose services to the cause of western history are con-
spicuous.
Hon. Jacob Piatt Dunn of Indiana, who in 1905 gave this society
a most able and logical address on Father Pierre Gibault, the patriot
priest of the Northwest. Mr. Dunn has also contributed other valu-
able articles to the cause of western history.
Lastly, the board of directors wish to recommend to the society
that honorary membership be conferred upon Hon. Charles S. Deneen.
It is not the custom of this society to confer honorary membership
upon high officials of the State and nation, during the terms of office
of these gentlemen, but your directors wish to express the appreciation
of the society of the earnest, thoughtful and helpful address which
II
Governor peneen delivered before the society at its annual meeting-
(last evening) of 1907. Governor Deneen also gave the society last
year a very helpful address; and in views of these addresses of en-
couragement to the society, and on account of his interest in the cause
of State History and this association, we recommend that he be made
by you an honorary member of this society. Charles S. Deneen is an
Illinoisan. His family were pioneers of the State, and he believes in
the cause of State history and under all circumstances does all in his
power to foster its collection and preservation. Your board of direc-
tors therefore recommends that hororary membership in the Illinois
State Historical Society be conferred upon the above named gentle-
men, Paul Selby, Benj. F. Shambaugh, Jacob Piatt Dunn and Charles
S. Deneen.
12
DIRECTORS' MEETING.
The board of directors of the IlHnois State Historical Society met
in the Librarian's room of the State Historical Library, Tuesday morn-
ing, June i8, 1907, at 10:30 o'clock.
President Alfred Orendorff presided.
There were present: Messrs. E. B. Greene, J. H. Burnham, J. W.
Clinton, M. H. Chamberlin, Andrew Russell, Mrs. Jessie Palmer
Weber and Alfred Orendorff.
Professor Greene moved that the secretary be directed to ask the
Adjutant General what plans are being formulated for the publication
of the War Record of the State. The secretary was directed to report
on this point at the annual meeting of the society. The question of
the change in the time of the annual meeting of the society was dis-
cussed and it was the sense of the board th^t the change in time be
made, subject to the decision of the society. Professor Greene moved
that the secretary send to the members of the society the necessary
notice of the proposed change in the constitution for the purpose of
changing the time for holding the annual meeting. This motion was
seconded by Dr. Chamberlin and was carried.
It was suggested that as the year 1908, is the year of the semi-
centennial of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, it would be necessar^' for
the society to take some action in regard to its commemoration, and the
Program committee and the committee on the celebration of the semi-
centennial of the debates, asked for the sentiment of the board as to
how much the annual meeting for 1908 should be devoted to this pur-
pose. Mr. J. W. Clinton spoke of a letter he had received from the
late Hon. R. R. Hitt, in regard to the Lincoln-Douglas debates and he,
(Mr. Clinton), thought it very likely that among Mr. Hitt's papers
would be very much material, not only about the debates but in re-
gard to other matters of Illinois history, and by motion offered by Mr.
Clinton, the Secretary was directed to write to Mrs. Hitt on the subject.
General Orendorff spoke of the appropriation that had been made to
the Historical Society by the last Legislature and in regard to the uses
and necessities which this fund would meet. The secretary gave a
statement as to the expenses of the society and how they had been met
from the annual dues of the members and from the State" appropriation.
Dr. Chamberlin moved that the society pay its secretary $500.00 a
year from the State appropriation. Prof. Greene seconded this motion
and it was carried unanimouslv.
13
Captain Burnham asked a question as to the cost of illustrations
and maps in the annual transactions of the society. He wished to
know if the society or any author paid for these. The secretary stated
that the society paid for such illustrations and maps. Professor Greene
spoke on the desirability of the society publishing additional volumes,
that is, other than the transactions, on special subjects and he men-
tioned the papers of Gustavus Koemor. Professor Greene said that
he had had an opportunity of seeing some of these papers, especially
Gov. Koernor's autobiography, and he thought it most desirable that
the biography in part at least, be published. Captain Burnham moved
that if this biography was deemed of sufficient interest, that it be pub-
lished with an introduction and notes by Professor E. B. Greene.
Dr. Chamberlin spoke of Frederick Hecker and said that it was
probable that there is a collection of the Hecker papers in existence.
Dr. Chamberlin was requested to look into this matter and report in
regard to these papers. This, he agreed to do. Captain Burnham spoke
on the desirability of collecting photographs, maps and diagrams of
historic places in Illinois and urged that the secretary and all of the
members of the society make special efforts toward a great collection
of such material. Captain Burnham then spoke of the Lincoln-Douglas
debates, and Mrs. Weber said that the Library Board had decided
upon the publication of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the editorial
work to be done by Prof. E. E. Sparks. Dr. Greene spoke at length
on the scope of this book and Dr. Sparks' plans for it.
It was decided, in view of the fact that the Program committee and
the committee on the commemoration of the semi-centennial of the
Lincoln-Douglas debates would meet in the afternoon, to take a recess
until 1 :30 o'clock to meet in conference with these committees.
The Board of Director's meeting adjourned.
Adjourned Meeting of the Board of Directors, i 130 O'clock,
June 18, 1907.
There were present at this meeting : President Orendorff, who pre-
sided, Messrs. Chamberlin, Greene, Burnham, Russell, Clinton and
Mrs. Weber.
By invitation : Col. Clark E. Carr, Mr. H. W. Clendenin and later,
Mr. Phillip S. Post.
The conference recommended that the celebration of the Lincoln-
Douglas debates be given on the dates of the original celebrations at
the same hour, and, as nearly as is practicable, on the same spots, in
each of the towns in which the debates occurred. It was also decided
that an address be issued to the people of the State of Illinois calling
attention to this semi-centennial anniversary and the proposed celebra-
tions of it by the Historical Society. The conference also recom-
mended that the Program committee for the annua) meeting, 1908,
give as much time as practicable to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Col.
M
onel Carr, chairman of the committee on the Lincoln-Douglas debates,
spoke at some length on the plans of the committee, and it was the
sense of the conference that matters of detail of this celebration be left
entirely to this committee.
There being no further business, the Board of Directors' meeting
adjourned to meet at the call of the president.
15
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL HISTORICAL
SOCIETIES.
Springfield, III., Jan. 24, 1907.
To the Illinois State Historical Society:
It is very pleasant to be able to state that within little more than a
year, half a dozen apparently vigorous county historical societies have
been organized, and that several older ones report a revival of interest.
The county societies now organized are Boone, Champaign, DeKalb,
Greene, Jersey, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Logan, Macoupin, McDon-
ough, McLean, Morgan, Peoria, Pike, Rock Island, St. Clair, White-
side, Woodford, Johnson, and the Pioneer Association of Will county.
The Pioneer Society of Quincy is practically an Adams county society,
while the Alton society represents Madison, and the new society at
Carbondale will represent much more than Jackson county. We thus
have almost a right to count twenty-four county historical societies.
Besides these we can report a very thoroughly active society at
Evanston, and township societies at Polo. Ogle county; Ogden and
Philo, Champaign county, and Leroy, McLean county. The Scientific
Club at Elgin and the New England Society at Rockford may perhaps
develop into local historical societies. There are several very important
societies which cover far more than a limited territory which are not
properly local societies, but as their work does not conflict with that
of our State society, we will enumerate them and cordially invite them
to fraternize as far as they can consistently, with the enterprising
galaxy of historical societies now entering upon what promises to be
a new era. These are the Chicago Historical Society, the German-
American Historical Society of Chicago, the Illinois Society at Spring-
field and the Colored Historical Society at Springfield.
Reports received from most of the societies in the State indicate a
greatly increased interest during the past year. It will be remembered
that at our last annual meeting the hope was expressed that some prac-
tical recorrwnendations concerning the relation between State and
other societies would be received from the American Histoncal As-
sociation which is now giving this problem very serious consideration.
The last annual report of this body was issued in October. Our space
will not permit of more than a brief quotation or two from this work.
In this volume we are informed that quite a number of the most im-
portant township societies in Massachusetts have latelv formed a His-
torical League, and also that the Pennsylvania Federation of Historical
i6
Societies was formed two years ago. Out of thirty-six historical
societies in that state, twenty-four joined this new organization. Penn-
sylvania has about twenty-six county historical societies, a larger num-
ber than any other state in the Union, and our own State now takes
second rank in the number of county societies. The secretary of the
Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies in the volume above
referred to, says, "To summarize, it will be the province of the Penn-
sylvania Federation ; first, to organize historical activity in every part
of the State, and foster it, and to foster that already organized ; second,
to act as a federal bibliographer for its component societies ; third,
at regular intervals or periods to bulletin the publications of its com-
ponent societies, and to conduct an exchange of said bulletins."
These federations or leagues appear to be between independent so-
cieties, not affiliated with state or parent societies, but in Iowa and
Wisconsin nearly, if not quite all, local societies are legally affiliated
with the State organizations. It is natural for us to look for appropriate
hints from Iowa and Wisconsin where local societies are systematically
and legally affiliated with the State societies, and it is likely we shall be
favored with their experience before our adjournment.
The conference of representatives of local historical societies now
in session here is confronted with the problem of a stronger and better
affiliation with the Illinois State Historical Society, which shall draw
from the parent society all the nourishment it has ability to give ; and
at the same time to return, if possible, many fold, to the parent, such
aid, encouragement and stimulus as these young and enthusiastic or-
ganizations may find it in their growing power to bring to the older
organization.
Judging from the reports which have reached us from the associated
bodies referred to, tliis problem needs careful study, and your com-
mittee believes that any recommendations at this time should be given
with such extreme diffidence and hesitation, that the conference will
be more likely to bring forth valuable results if left entirely to its
own voluntar}' action.
Committee on Local Historical Societies.
17
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES OF 1858.
January 14, 1907.
President Alfred Orendorif, Springfield, Illinois:
My Dear Gen. Orendorff — Owing to a University appointment in
Wisconsin, I shall not be able to attend the annual meeting of the
Historical Society. In view of the fact that I may be in Europe during
a part of the coming year, it seems best to tender my resignation as
chairman of the committee on the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Celebra-
tion and to remain a member — if you so desire — where I promise all
assistance in my power.
These subjects should be considered by the committee in addition to
other topics which may come before the meeting:
1. A fund of at least five hundred dollars for printing, promoting
and other expenses of the celebrations.
2. A pamphlet on the Debates, etc., to circulate in the schools.
3. Organization, in each place where a tablet has not been erected,
looking to a proper marking of the place of the debate.
4. A recommendation to the Historical Library Board to print an
annotated edition of the debates for general use during the celebration
year.
5. A cooperative inquiry among the various "debate cities" to
ascertain what steps as yet have been taken to inaugurate the cele-
bration and to ascertain in what way the general committee can be
useful.
6. A publicity sub-committee, whose duty should be to further the
enterprise through the State press.
7. A recommendation to the Program Committee for 1908 to
devote the program largely to the debates, with an attempt to form a
debate historical collection for exhibition during the meeting, the
same to be allied to the museum afterward. Probably part of this
collection would have to be in the nature of a loan, to be returned
after the meeting.
I trust that these topics may be suggestive of others. Greatly re-
gretting my inability to be present and pledging my continued efforts
as a member of the committee, but not its chairman, I am, with high
regard. Yours most cordially,
Edwin E. Sparks.
— 2 H S
i8
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON GENEALOGY AND GENE-
ALOGICAL PUBLICATIONS.
To the Officers and Metnbers of the Illinois State Historical Society:
Your Committee on Genealogy and Genealogical Publications begs
leave to report as follows :
The work of the committee has consisted in preparing a full list
of all works on genealogy to be found in the Illinois State Historical
Library, to which has been added a list of works on gene-
alogy, which, in its judgment, added to the list referred to as already in-
the Illinois State Historical Library, would constitute the beginning
of a good working library on genealogy and genealogical publications.
The committee recommends also that the Secretary of State, the
Hon. James A. Rose, be asked to transfer all works on genealogy and
town histories (list herewith submitted) from the State library to the
Illinois State Historical Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Georgia L. Osborne,
Chairman Committee on Genealogy and Genealogical Publications.
19
JOINT MEETING OF PROGRAM COMMITTEE AND COM-
MITTEE ON SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF LINCOLN-
DOUGLAS DEBATES OF 1858.
The Program Committee and the Lincoln-Douglas Committee of
the Illinois State Historical Society met at 3 :oo o'clock June 18, 1907,
in the librarian's room of the historical library.
Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, the chairman of the Program Com-
mittee, presided.
There were present of the Program Committee:
Captain J. H. Burnham, General Alfred Orendorff, Mrs. Weber.
And by invitation :
Professor E. B. Greene, Mr. Andrew Russell.
There were present of the Committee on Lincoln-Douglas Debates:
Colonel Clark E. Carr, Mr. W. H. Clendenin, Judge Philip S. Post.
It was decided that at the annual meeting one address on Douglas
and one on Lincoln be given. These addresses to be given at the two
evening meetings of the annual session. After considerable discus-
sion, it was decided to ask Mr. Horace White of New York to give
the address on Lincoln and that General A. E. Stevenson of Blooming-
ton, 111., be asked to give the address on Douglas. It was also decided
that the Committee on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates be asked to give a
full and vigorous report as to what it had done and what was in con-
templation, and that the society then take up further business in
regard to the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and that the rest of the pro-
gram for the annual meeting be made up in its usual way — of papers
on various phases of State history.
Judge Post moved that the secretary of the society write to the local
members of the Lincoln-Douglas committee, asking them to go
ahead and make their plans for the celebration and report to the
society at the annual meeting. These plans were satisfactory to both
committees, the Program and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Committees.
Letters were read from some members of the committee who were
unable to be present. Charles P. Kane, by letter to the secretary, sug-
gested that a paper on Elias Kent Kane, one of the most distinguished
of the early statesmen of Illinois, be presented at the annual meeting.
He suggested that Congressman George W. Smith could give this
paper. Mrs. Weber thought it might be well to ask Mrs. Charles
W. Thomas of Belleville to give the paper, instead of Congressman
20
Smith, as at that season Mr. Smith would be in Washington attending
Congress. Mrs. Weber stated that Mrs. Thomas was the daughter
of Governor W. H. Bissell and that her step-mother (second wife of
Mr. Bissell) was the daughter of Elias Kent Kane, and that Mrs.
Thomas was, of course, very familiar with Mr. Kane's personal his-
tory. The secretary was requested to ask Mrs. Thomas to give this
paper.- The secretary was also directed to ask William T. Davidson
of Lewistown, 111., to present a paper before the society.
The secretary read a letter from Mr. Paul Selby, making some sug-
gestions as to papers for the meeting. Mr. Selby suggested that
General A. L. Chetlain of Galena, Illinois, be invited to give his rem-
iniscences, and that Hon. R. M. Benjamin be invited to present a
paper on the constitutional convention of 1869-70. Various names
were suggested by the members of the committee, and the secretary
was directed to invite these various persons ; and if unable to secure
these speakers, to consult with the president and invite such others as
may seem desirable and practicable. It was decided that the first
morning of the annual session be entirely devoted to the business of
the society, including the reports of officers and committees, and that
no papers be delivered at this session. The matter of local arrange-
ments for the annual meeting was left to the president and secretary,
and the president was directed to appoint such committees as is neces-
sary, to assist in making preparations for the annual meeting of the
society.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
21
MEETING OF COMMITTEE TO REVISE THE MAILING
LIST FOR THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.
The Committee on the Revision of the Mailing List of the PubHca-
tions of the IlHnois State Historical Society met in the librarian's room
in the historical library June i8, 1907, at 8:30 a. m.
There were present: Mrs. I. G. Miller, Captain J. H. Burnham,
Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber and General Alfred Orendorff, who pre-
sided.
Captain Burnham moved that the secretary of the society have slips
printed, to be inserted in each volume sent out, requesting an acknowl-
edgment of the receipt of the volume, and stating that an acknowledg-
ment would be considered a request for further publications. Mrs.
Miller suggested that a double post card be used, half of which might
be used by the recipient for the purpose of acknowledging
the volume. Mrs. Weber stated that many societies used that form.
It was decided that the secretary consider the matter and use what-
ever form seemed best suited to the needs of the society. The secre-
tary read the list which she called her "official mailing list,^' which
included all the members of the society, county superintendents of
schools, members of the Legislature, the state libraries of the various
states, Illinois members of Congress, United States Senators and
judges of the State, historical societies and the city libraries of large
cities, libraries throughout the State of Illinois and newspapers
throughout the State. This plan of distribution was approved by the
committee. It was suggested that county superintendents of schools
be requested to give a list of their district school libraries. Mrs.
Weber stated that in many instances county superintendents of schools
had regarded volumes sent them as their personal property . The com-
mittee thought it desirable that each county have at its county seat a
set of the historical society transactions, and it was finally de-
cided that the secretary purchase a rubber stamp with the words,
"'Property of the County ;" this to be stamped in all volumes for
county superintendents of schools, and if county superintendents desire
personal copies, they are to be sent them on request. The question
of the sale of the publications was considered. Mrs. Weber said that
no publications had ever been sold, and the question was a somewhat
delicate one, and that the Library Board had sometimes considered
this, but had arrived at no decision about it.
Captain Burnham offered a resolution, which was seconded by Mrs.
Miller, and was passed :
22
The motion recommended to the Library Board of the State Historical
Library by the committee for the revision of the mailing list for the
distribution of the books of the transactions of the society, the advisability
of offering these books for sale to such as wish to purchase, but who are not
eligible to the list for free distribution.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
Note — The report of the secretary and treasurer of the society will be found at the close of
this volume. *
PART II.
Papers Read at the Annual Meeting
90 7
25
A NATIVE ILLINOIS SUN MYTH.
liy Clara Kern Bavliss.
I fear that I shall not be able to make you appreciate the importance
of this Sauk myth and how fitting it is that it should be recorded in
the historical publications of the State. It is about as difficult to make
the paleface, unversed in Indian lore, understand the relationships
which the red man sees between the heavenly bodies, between the cloud
and the bird, etc., as it is to convey to the untutored savage — and for
that matter, to many of the white people themselves — the esoteric mean-
ing of divine incarnation, vicarious atonement and resurrection.
We are prone to think lightly of all faiths save our own. We say
that the dull, prosaic red man of our acquaintance has no sentiment;
no ancestral faith. Yet I had not been two days in a Mexican pueblo
before I came upon a genuine survival of that ancient sun myth which
was the starting point for every religion the world has ever known.
For primitive religion and philosophy everywhere began in an
attempt to explain the sunrise and sunset, storms and earthquakes and
all the more marked phenomena of nature. Every religion in the world
— Christian, Buddhist, Parsee. American Indian — points to a more or
less remote ancestry in nature worship; the degree of remoteness be-
ing proportionate to the stage of enlightenment possessed by the adher-
ents of that religion. And it is not denial of true religion, but on
the contrary it is the most incontrovertible proof of its existence, that
in all lands and in all ages the finite mind has looked with admiration
and reverence upon the manifestations of an overruling SOMEWHAT.
And what more worshipful Over Ruler had early man, groping in
the pathless jungles of an unconquered wilderness, than the beneficent
light of day? The earliest worship in the world was, as a matter of
course, sun worship. It was inevitable that savage man, dwelling in
perpetual fear of the wild beasts and the human foes that lurked
around him, dreading the darkness and welcoming the daylight, should
take the sun for his God and the darkness for his devil, and should give
to each a whole retinue of followers. We Christians still speak of the
sun as the God of day and of the devil as the imp of darkness, terms
which have strayed down the centuries from some far-off ancestral
nature worship. .
It is noteworthy that all the deities of earth, from Jesus to Napi of
the Blackfeet Indians, have departed from among men, but will come
again, even as the sun god of early man retired at night to return
26
another day. "Though he be dead, yet shall he live again" is as old
as the dawning conviction that it is the same sun that died last night
which rises again in the morning.
Men have always instinctively worshiped something. At first it
was the visible sun, coming to dispel their foes and fears of the night.
Then it was some mystic potency behind or within the sun — the power
to resurrect the dead vegetation and rejuvenate the earth; then a still
more intangible and spiritual force, until they arrived at the Omnipo-
tent and Omnipresent Mind which is the God of the Christian today.
Taken altogether, the myths of the American Indians form a com-
plete system portraying the development of this God idea from the
time of its first inception up to its arrival at a stage but one degree
inferior to that which occupied the Hebrew mind at the time when
the more primitive of the Old Testament books were written. The
Oldbis of the Wintus of California is a most majestic personage, sitting
aloft in his wigwam of flowering oaks on the top of the sky and issuing
his commands in truly god-like fashion. And Napi, the Old Man Im-
mortal of the Blackfeet, is a most gentle, helpful and humanly lovable
being. Then there are a multitude of lesser beings which correspond to
our archangels and to our (now rapidly evaporating) devil and his
minions.
Taking one myth or one series of myths alone, it might seem fanciful
to say that the arrow and the hummingbird represent rays of light;
the grizzlies, clouds and fogs ; that the decrepit old grandmother sym-
bols the sky ; the rolling head or rock, a destructive whirlwind ; that a
serpent is the synonym for the zigzag lightning darting across the
heavens, etc. But when we find these same agents appearing again
and again in the legends of different tribes, always assuming the same
character and performing the same acts, then the evidence is cumula-
tive, and there can be no question as to the significance of the agent.
In the myths of all tribes — the Incas of Peru, the Aztecs of Mexico,
the Algonquins of the north, the Pueblos of the south coast and the
tribes of the Pacific slope — we find the sun or the daylight acting as a
beneficent giant, who can compass the earth at a single bound, and who
is forever contending with an almost equally potent giant of darkness.
On the side of the light god are arrayed the moon, stars, all bright
colors and beneficial phenomena; while on the side of darkness are
fogs, storms, noisome odors and all things of dire portent. Day after
day, year after year, these two opposing forces contend for mastery,
but neither one can wholly annihilate the other. Night after night the
conflict is renewed, sometimes in a spirit of rivalry, with only a few
of the foes confronting; at other times with the armies drawn up in
full strength, to battle to the death.
It was natural that early man should personify the heavenly bodies,
for he knew of nothing except an animate being that was warm like
the sun and that moved as do the heavenly orbs, in a direct course and
with seeming purpose. Moreover, he had to speak of them as "he"
or "she," for his language had no neuter gender. And when once
these objects were named and regarded as individuals, the myth making
was well under way. Here were two hostile peoples pitted against
27
each other; the one led by the Sun, a chief whose shield blinded all
by its brightness, and who was armed with bow and arrows (his rays
of light) that could fly with killing effect to incredible distances. In
his retinue were all things that loved the light, even the hearts of the
dumb earth-bound trees yearning toward him. On the other side was
a dread chief who could summon storms and lightning, pestilence and
death to do his bidding. All the heavens and all the earth was the
stage of action for these two forces ; and wonderful were the comedies
and tragedies which the red man saw enacted in the sky as he followed
the trail through the forest by day or lay at night with face upturned
to the starlit dome which bent above the boundless prairies. Wonderful
were the dreams woven by his poetic fancy about the doings of the
Sun Man, Moon Woman, Dawn Maiden and Star Children and their
inveterate foes, the Storm Clouds and Darkness.
So detailed and so graphic did the descriptions of the conflicts be-
tween the two parties become as the myth developed in the minds of
successive poet-philosophers that the Spaniards, who heard the Aztec
legends about glorious ancestors whose dominion had been cut short
by a barbarian horde of Chichimecs that rose up against them, never
suspected — these Spaniards — that the mighty ancestors were the suns
of past days and the Chichimecs were the countless stars of night sum-
moned forth by the dark Tezcatlipoca, the brother and rival of the
sungod.
The Navahoes of the southwest call the sun and his helpers yet or
gods ; and the Darkness and his minions, anaye or alien gods. The
Algonkins of the northeast designate the two as the good and evil
Manitous. Like all deities of history, they were regarded as anthro-
pomorphic, or manlike ; and they were sometimes Sky Walkers and
sometimes Earth Walkers. And in the myths, the transition from sky
to earth and mundane nature, and back again to celestial, is often so
sudden as to require violent mental gymnastics to follow it.
There were three chief theories regarding the re-appearance of the
heavenly orbs. i. One was that the sun, moon and stars rowed back
under the earth in a canoe, or that they returned through a tunnel in
the earth from west to east, so as to be ready to rise in the east at
their own proper times. 2. Another was that they actually died in the
west, but came to life again in the east. (And this gave rise to end-
less tales of death and resurrection among celestial bodies, men, ani-
mals, plants and trees; and also to a belief in a home of departed
spirits somewhere in the sunsetting land.) 3. The third theory was
that each day's luminary was the offspring of that of the preceding day.
And these succeeding suns were named and were regarded as father,
son and grandson.
This last was the conception of the Aztecs of Mexico, among whom
yesterday's sun was old Camaxtli, and today's sun was the tall, fair
young Quetzalcoatl. This, too, was the idea of the Algonkins of the
northern United States. The youthful Sun is often pictured as wed-
ding the Dawn Maiden and setting out with her on a long journey
across the wide prairies of the Sky Country, the maiden usually per-
ishing ere the journev is well begun; the Sun growing hourly more
28
virile and energetic until he passes the zenith, after which he begins
to flag, to grow old : and when he reaches the mottled west at evening
he is a decrepit, blotched old man, who falls into the sunset fire and
is burned up, or who sinks into the ocean and is drowned — y^t he
is immortal, for all Sky Walkers are immortal.
This Sun Man walks, talks, laughs, shoots his arrows ; but the per-
sonification reaches its climax when he is described as starting up the
steps of the sky, counting the steps, "one, two, three," as he goes;*
and when he warms to his work, changing his pace and springing
across land and ocean, "nine miles to the leap."t
The great Algonkin family embraced all the tribes of northern
United States from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific, with the excep-
tion of the Iroquois of New York and the Sioux of Dakota. Among
the Abenaki-Algonkins of New England, Kulooskap is the Sun and
also the sunlight or DayHght. Malsum, the Darkness, is his twin
brother. But despite this relationship, the two live in perpetual con-
flict, daily pursuing each other across the world from east to west
with murderous intent. Each is a giant and can stretch up till his
head touches the stars and higher, or can shrink down until he is no
larger than a mouse. Kulooskap, the Sungod, carries a magic bow
and arrows (his rays of light) with which to pierce his enemies; and
Malsum, the dark and dour, carries a black root from under the
ground. They both live in the tent with their grandmother Sky, who
sits bowed far forward — ^as skies and grandmothers are wont to sit.
Kulooskap has a little brother, Martin, the Morning Star, whom the
grandmother keeps ever with her, carrying him on her back, pappoose
fashion — on a cradle-board, with face to the rear — so he is always
the first to perceive the approach of Kulooskap and to whisper the
good news to the old dame.
Once Malsum stole the old woman and the little brother and fled
with them mile after mile, league after league, till they grew wan and
weary and could scarcely travel farther ; but through all his hardships
the little Martin "still wore his good clothes," for the Morning Star
remains trim and tidy to his last gasp. During their unwilling flight,
Martin contrived to drop inscribed bits of bark along the route to
guide Kulooskap in the pursuit. Kulooskap, overtaking them, hid
himself behind the tree trunks so that Malsum w^ould not see him
just yet ; and he whispered to Martin and the grandmother to go on
with their captor for a little time longer and to throw Malsum's child
into the fire (of the red dawn). After they had done so, Kulooskap
stepped out from behind the tree trunks, stood close to Malsum, and,
disdaining to shoot so feeble an opponent as the Darkness had now
become, tapped Malsum lightly on the head with his bow, till he
shrank down, lower and lower, smaller and smaller, "till he died like
a dog" at the feet of his sunbright brother.
Once Kulooskap took Martin and the grandmother in his canoe
and rowed away with them on a stream which was broad at first, but
which became narrower .until it passed into deep gorges and went
* Mono (California myth). t Passamaquody myth.
29
under ground. (And this you will recognize as their return from
west to east.) On and on he rowed, straight through the darkness
and the night though he sang the songs of magic as he thus went
through the territory of the enemy. In this dread land the grand-
mother and the little brother became as dead ; but when morning ap-
proached, Kulooskap beached his canoe, carried the two ashore and
bade them arise ; and lo ! the Morning Star shone out, the Sky became
bright, and the Sun went on his way as usual.
Then Malsum stole upon Kulooskap as he lay asleep in the deep,
dark forest, and struck him with the magic root, to kill him ; but
Kulooskap rose up "in sorrow and anger" and sniote his wayward
brother till he fell down, dead.
Thus the never-ending conflict went on from day to day, from year
to year. Sometimes the Frost Giant came to the aid of Malsum and
tried to freeze Kulooskap to death. The lakes froze over, the streams
turned to stone, the sap in the trees became ice, the great oaks burst
wdth a resounding snap, but Kulooskap only laughed and heaped
up the fire till his adversary melted in the spring sunshine and flowed
away.
I have thus briefly outlined the sun myth of the New England
Algonkins, both to show that different versions of the same myth are
found in different tribes and also to indicate the kinship of the Sauk
myth of Illinois ; for Black Hawk's famous tribe, with its three
thousand acres of corn along Rock river and its populous city of
Saukenuk near the conflux of that river with the Mississippi, belonged
to the Algonkin family. They were Algonkins who migrated west-
ward by way of Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay. Saginaw valley,
where Champlain found them in 1612, was originally called Sauke-
nong, the Place of the Sauks. Thence they were driven to Mackinac^
and from there they came to Rock river, where they had been for
more than a century when the white men drove them across the
Mississippi.
In the Wi-sa-ka-ha myth of the Sauks we have the same conflict
as in the Abenaki ; the same light god ; the same little brother ; but
the enemy here seems to be clouds instead of darkness, and the little
brother comes a second time as the Evening Star, the morning and
evening star being, in fact, the same.
We give but a fragment of this Sauk story, yet enough to show
that it is no trivial tale, but a myth that deserves preservation in the
annals of the State where it had its home. In this one myth we catch
a glimpse of every separate stage in the development of religious
philosophy. That is wdiy it is so well worth preserving. The central
figure is, first, a purely cosmic object or force, the sun or sunlight;
second, a Something behind the sun, the Creator; third, a terrestrial
teacher and friend of mankind; and, last of all, a Deity who has
departed from among men, but who will come again to gather mortals
into life everlasting.
And, however imperfectly the original conception is carried out, the
myth begins with a grand celestial drama in which the morning sun
rises through opposing clouds and steadily pursues his journey
30
through the heavens, distancing and dispelling all that seek to destroy
him, and finally growing so strong and bold that he ventures, like
Kulooskap into the very lair of his foes, and does them to death with
one thrust of his swift penetrating darts.
And, remembering that they are fogs, how could realism go farther
than in the description of the manitous on the island watchfully bask-
ing in the autumn sunshine ; shrieking in their death agony, and sum-
moning the avenging hosts, whose heavy, on-coming tread makes the
whole earth tremble?
Or, what could be more fancifully graphic than the picture of the
clouds pursuing the morning sun with steps that lag and falter as
their adversary mounts higher, until the last feeble old man of them
halts to tie his moccasin string and evaporates in the sultry heat of
noontide ?
The following is a condensation of the version given in the Journal
of American Folk Lore, Vol. XIV, which is itself a condensation of
the original myth :
First Stage.
Once upon a time there were manitous on the earth, under (within)
the earth and far away where the stars now are. They were like
people, marrying and rearing children, but they were tall, and big,
and mjghty. Over them ruled Gi-sha Ma-ne-to-wa, who had four
sons, the two elder of whom were Wi-sa-ka-ha and Ki-ya-pa-ta-ha,
grandchildren of the Sun.
These two children waxed so mighty that the manitous became
jealous of their power and complained to their father, who, fearing
that they would usurp his own dominion over the world, called to-
gether all the manitous and asked them to destroy the young men ;
hut he told the manitous that they must first consult Hu-ki,* the old
grandmother with whom they dwelt, for she loved the boys and tried
to keep them ever with her. So the manitous, talking angrily, went to
Hu-ki's lodge when the young men were absent. The din of their
voices was like the growl of the thunder, and the tramp of their feet
made the whole earth tremble.
When the old woman heard their plan she sat sad and silent, with
her head bent far forward (like the sky) and her face hid in the
palms of her hands. By and by she lifted her head slowly, looked at
the manitous, and this is what she said :
"You may kill Ki-ya-pa-ta-ha, but you will be only the means of
his becoming greater than ever; he will live fofever. And as for
Wi-sa-ka-ha, you will never be able to slay him, however much you
may try. If you make the attempt, it will be the fiercest fight ever
fought by manitous. I will have no part in it."
The manitous called a council, to which they invited Wi-sa-ka-ha
and Ki-ya-pa-ta-ha, and they told them : "We are all going on a
journey over a beautiful country belonging to Gisha Manetowa, and
we ask you boys, his sons, to come with us. There will be two par-
* More corroetly, Mesa'kamisro'kwiiha, the World-over Woman.
31
ties, one for the old and one for the young, and we should like you,
Wisakaha, to accompany the elder manitous, and you, Kiyapataha, to
go with the younger ones."
The youths consented, each joining his own party, and, departing
in different directions, were soon out of sight of each other. The
country into which Wisakaha went became more beautiful, and mani-
tou after manitou dropped out by the way. In a little while he no-
ticed that his company had dwindled to a few old manitous. They
kept urging him to go ahead and take the lead. On nearing a cluster
of hills he stopped and, glancing over his shoulder, beheld behind him
only one very old manitou, who was in the act of stooping.
"Go on; do not stop for me," said the old (cloud) manitou. I shall
be up and following you as soon as 1 have tied my moccasin string,"
Wisakaha continued on, making no reply (a way the sun has). On
coming to a hollow between two hills he again looked over his shoul-
der and found that he was alone. Straightway he hurried to the top
of a hill ahead of him. but as he was ascending it he heard a cry from,
afar : "Oh, Wisakaha, my elder brother, I am dying !"
Wisakaha listened, and heard the cry repeated. He looked everv-
where round about him and as he did so he heard the cry repeated
for the fourth time : "'Oh, Wisakaha, my elder brother, I am dying !"
He ran from crest to crest, hoping to catch sight of his younger
brother, but nowhere could he find him. Neither was a single manitou
in sight in the whole wide country.
After a long search he returned home, suspecting that harm had
befallen Kiyapataha at the hands of the manitous. He sought him
in all the lodges, and was sorely grieved at not finding him. He
mourned for him for four days, and on the evening of the fourth
day as he sat weeping in the middle of his lodge, he heard a footstep
approaching without, which grew softer the nearer it approached.
It paused at the doorway. It was Kiyapataha's ghost, seeking
entrance. But Wisakaha whispered : "Do not rap, my younger
brother. I must not let you in. I have a better place in which you
may dwell. Go to the west, beyond the place where the sun goes
down. There you shall not live alone. I will create a people after
the race of our mother, and they shall follow you and live there, and
you shall watch over them in the spirit world forever. Take this drum,
this fife, this gourd rattle and this fire. You will need these things
when you welcome our uncles and our aunts into the world of
spirits."
Thereupon, the' ghost reached its hand through the crack in the
entrance-way and received the drum and the fife, and the rattle, and
the fire ; and, as the ghost started to go, it blew upon the fife and
beat upon the drum ; and straightway there sprang from the ground
a vast throng of ghosts, whooping as they rose ; and they accom-
panied the ghost of Kiyapataha on its way to the Land beyond the
sunsetting.*
*The sky grronncl, for they were the stars.
32
After a time Wisakaha went forth to find the manitous who had
slain his brother. He went far and hunted long. He was pacing the
shore of the sea one day, weeping and sad, when a little bird fluttered
against his cheek and whispered that it would tell him where lived
the two manitous who had had most to do with the death of his
brother. The bird pointed out a great sandbar or island in the sea and
said that in the center of it was a hole leading to a cave in which the
manitous dwelt. Every morning early they came out — (the fogs)
and stretched themselves along the sand and lay there sunning them-
selves, one looking out over the sea to the north, the other to the
south, guarding it so that no one could approach alive.
Wisakaha went away to a mountain in the northwest which reached
high above the clouds, and there he sat, unobserved, looking down
upon the manitous and planning how he could destroy them. It was
autumn, and he noticed that the wind wafted dead leaves and grasses
across the waters and they fell beside the manitous, unheeded. So
he went down and rendering himself invisible, wafted himself over
the water on a spider's web. He fell directly between the two mani-
tous, and assuming his proper form, quickly sent an arrow into each
of them.
Then the manitous hoivled so loud zvith pain that the earth shook,
and the other manitous, hearing the cry, came hurrying to the rescue.
Quickly Wisakaha thrust a hot manitou iron (manitou metal) into
the wounds, following the track made by his arrows. The manitous
far away among the hills heard the shriek of pain coming from the
dying chiefs, and straightway they beheld puffs of smoke shooting
skyward from the island. Then they caught the smell of burning
■Hesh. (Think of the realism of that!)
Again the wrath of the manitous burst forth. They talked angrily,
and the earth shook under the heavy tread of their hurrying feet.
(This is the gathering of the storm clouds.) They sent Sha-sha-
ga-ha, a small snake (symbol of the lightning), ahead to see what
was happening, bidding it go under ground and show only its head
above the earth of the island. Sha-sha-ga-ha went. But the moment
it lifted its little head above the soil Wisakaha beckoned it to come
out and sit beside him. Then he broke up the bodies of the dead
manitous and fed the little snake on them till it could hold no more.
Then he tied a string of the fat meat around its neck and sent it
back to the manitous to show them how he had feasted it on their
dead chiefs, and to bid them come and feast on the same flesh.
The wrath of the manitous waxed hot at this taunt. They rushed
tumultuously to the island, but only to find that Wisakaha had fled,
leaving the remains of the two chiefs cooking over the fire.
The wrathful manitous howled and wailed, and hurled the fire into
all the places where they thought Wisakaha might be in hiding.
Then they sent fierce storms, so that the rivers overflowed, the lakes
rose and all the land was covered with water.
Wisakaha fled, pursued by the manitous and the flood which they
had created. Up and up climbed the waters, till they reached the
top of the highest mountain and then the topmost branch of a tall
pine in which Wisakaha had taken refuge.
33
Second Stage.
A muskrat floating dead upon the waters. Wisakaha pulled to him
and restored to life. Then he sent it down to dive for earth ; and it
came up dead but with a little ball of mud in its fore claws. Again
Wisakaha restored it to life, and dropping the ball into the flood, soon
found himself on dry land, a new earth, flat and level everywhere.
And on it Wisakaha built him a lodge.*
One day as he sat in front of his lodge making arrows for the
people he intended to create (and here the Sungod has become the
Creator), he heard a voice calling to him from afar, "Oh, Wisakaha!"
He heard it again and again ; and the fourth time the cry sounded he
looked up into the sky, when lo ! he found it was the Sun, his grand-
father, who was calling to him.
"Come up to my lodge," said the Sun, "the Buzzard will carry
you on his back."f
Wisakaha was glad ; and the next time Buzzard came on a visit
he told him what the Sun had said. Now, Buzzard was at that time
the most beautiful of all creatures ; the blue, the red, the yellow, the
green and the white of his feathers dazzled the eyes of all who looked
upon him. His plumage was as gorgeous as the tints of the sunset,
and he dwelt in the sky with his kindred, far away from all others
of living kind. He was very proud. But he knew better than to
refuse the Sun and Wisakaha, so he stooped and let Wisakaha climb
upon his back. Then he spread his wings and rose up, up, and still
up, till they vanished from the eyes of the creatures on earth.
The journey was a long one, occupying many days. But at last
the Sun saw his grandson approaching and went to meet him. He
stretched out his hand in welcome, and just as Wisakaha let go of
Buzzard to grasp his hand, Buzzard flew from beneath him. Then
down fell Wisakaha, now diving head foremost, now lying on his
back, now plunging feet first, now whirling over and over. Thus
Wisakaha fell, and would have been dashed to pieces on the earth
had not his grandfather, the Tree, seen him and caught him in his
outspread arms, thus saving him from death.
Then was Wisakaha wroth. But he concealed his anger and after
a lapse of time sent Buzzard word that he wished to see him. When
Buzzard came, Wisakaha bade him summon all his kindred, as he
had a message for them. After they had all assembled, Wisakaha
said:
"And so, Buzzard, you thought it was fun to drop me down from
my grandfather's country after you had carried me to it. I am dis-
pleased with you and intend to punish you. The earth is level since
the flood. You and your kindred must now dig courses for the rivers,
and pile up hills and mountains, giving shape to all the earth. Your
beautiful feathers shall change to the color of the soil ; and the people
* This muskrat story and the following one of the buzzards are common Indian traditions
about the restoration and shaping of the earth after a flood.
t The ancestors of the buzzards were the irridescent clouds of morning and evening.
-3 H S
34
whom I shall make when all this is done will look upon you as the
most loathsome of living kind,"
Thereupon the Buzzards set to work — and sad were they at their
task — some forming into one line one behind another, pushing their
breasts against the soil, plowing out the river courses. Others dug
up the earth with their talons, piling huge mountain ridges and soar-
ing slowly along the slopes, shaping them with the under side of
their wings.
Thus Wisakaha prepared the world for his people. Then he drove
the manitous away — some into the ground, and to these he gave the
charge of fire ; and others he sent above, where they may now be
seen as stars. Among the latter is Gisha Manetowa, the Great Mani-
tou, who built his lodge on the shore of the White river (the Milky
Way) ; and there he dwells, he and many of the manitous who had
warred against Wisakaha. Others went to the south, and of these
Wisakaha made Thunderers, the guardians of the people.
Third Stage.
Last of all, Wisakaha created people, making the first men and
women out of clay that was red as blood. These were the Meskwa-
kiaga, the Red Earths or B'oxes.* Then he remained a long time
on earth, teaching the people how to hunt, how to grow food in the
fields, how to sing and dance and play all sorts of games, how to
pray, how to live peaceably with one another, and many other good
things.
FouRTPi Stage.
So, after he had taught them all these things, he called them to-
gether and said : "Now, I am going away to leave you. I am going
away to the north, to build me a lodge amid the ice and snow. Thither
you cannot come, unless it is my wish that you should see me. But I
will appear to you once every year^not in the form you see me now,
but in the flakes of the first snowfall. When I think you have dwelt long
enough on this earth, I shall return to you as I am now, as youthful
as when I leave you. And this will be the sign by which you will
know me : My braided hair will fall down between my shoulders
just as now ; you will know me by the eagle feathers in my hair at
the back ;f by this bow, which I shall hold in one hand, and this arrow,
which I shall hold in the other. Then I shall take you with me to
the west, where you shall meet your kindred who have gone there,
and shall dwell with them forever. After I have taken you to your
new honte, I shall return to destroy this world, and then shall stay
with you forever."
This is the promise Wisakaha made before he went away to the
north.
* Who united with the Sauks; the two being commonly known as the Sacs and Foxes.
t It is from the tip of this eagle feather that the light of day emanates.
t It will be noticed that Kiyapataha and the Sun call four times, four being the magic
number with the Indians because there are four points to the compass, four winds, etc.
§ In a Wintu myth, Waida Werris came to a lodge so noiselessly that no one knew he was
there. Waida Werris is the Pole Star.
THE GKEAT CAHOKIA UK MOXKS MOUND.
35
1405710
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
By Clark McAdams.
My first duty is to acknowledge the. signal honor the Illinois His-
torical Society does me in inviting me back to my native State to
address you upon a subject in which I claim no other qualification
than that I am my father's son.
I was raised in an atmosphere of interest in and study of thos^
ancient peoples whose occupation of the Mississippi valley antedated
our own. In my father's house there were many manifestations of
devotion to the subject. Indian axes held our doors ajar in summer.
Our mantle vases came from the mounds. Most of our family com-
mandments pertained to the care of precious flints and fragile pots,
that in contact with hot and headlong youth they might not perish.
I was quite familiar with the great Cahokia mound before I heard
of the pyramids of Egypt. I was a very vain authority upon the
famous pictograph of the Piasa Bird before I made the acquaintance
of St. George and his dragon ; and if any one had assured me in my
archaeological dawn that persons in Europe had painted infinitely
greater pictures upon canvas than our ancients had ever painted upon
the Alton bluffs, my spirited retort would have been that it was no
such thing. Discoidal, I think, was the first big word in the lexicon
of my youth. I can well remember times when I impressed teachers
and schoolmates with my advanced erudition by fripping off glibly
such words as hieroglyphics and aborigines. In my very early youth
I was quite aware that all was dross in the ceramic arts that had not
come from the mounds. I lived many years in eagerness to some day
become a man and smoke some of our big Indian pipes.
Kindred spirits visited my father's house. They wore the first
long black coats of which I have any recollection. They spent days
investigating the things in our house, which was a veritable museum ;
and I have sometimes had the vain thought that they must have
regarded my brother and me as very valorous youngsters, for the
room in which we slept was frequently the repository for a row of
grinning skulls, while on the wall behind was the terrible picture
which some of you may recall of Neanderthal man restored. The late
Major J. W. Powell, chief of the Bureau of Ethnology, was one of
the men who visited my father at our home. You may imagine what
a very small corner I could stow into to keep out of the way of this
very big man through those deUghtful evenings when he would tell
us of the cliff dwellings, the Grand canyon, or some other wonder in
some far away land.
36
When I grew old enough I became my father's companion in the
field. We worked for years in that great chain of mounds which
stretches from end to end of the Illinois river. We camped and
dug and explored. As my father's pupil, I came to know the different
types of mounds. 1 learned how to excavate them and how to remove
without breaking the fragile Indian pot. We used long steel probes
to guide us in our work, and when I had become so expert I could
tell by the grit or thump of the probe whether it were striking bone
or stone, I pleased my father indeed.
We engaged in this delightful work many summers, and no father
ever knew his children better than we knew our mounds. We named
those which had no names, and the delights of the Swiss Family
Robinson in the possession of their island home were not greater than
our own feeling that we had certain property rights in several hun-
dred picturesque Illinois river mounds, which, when I should become
rich and powerful, I would rescue from the farmers, who did not
hesitate to plow them and sow them in wheat and corn.
Through the two years prior to the Columbian Fair at Chicago
we worked in the field as much as the climate permitted. My father
was preparing the Illinois archaeological exhibit to be made at the
fair, and he was anxious to have things fresh from the mounds. So
in those two years I saw a great deal of the archaeology of Illinois, a
portion of our field work being in the great Cahokia group of mounds
in the American bottom.
This was a school of practical archaeology, in which the ancient
dweller in the Mississippi valley became to me a wonderful entity
haloed with that charm of mystery which seemingly must always
make him, of all idealistic figures in the romance of the new world,
the most delightful to contemplate. I could not stand upon the great
Cahokia mound without feeling that out of the dumb dirt comes a
greeting to this age from, that in which it was built ; without picturing
fancifully the departed glories of this great structure where once men
teemed and toiled in what awful or ideal relation we may not know,
I have never stood upon another spot which impressed me as this
mound can, and it is not hard for me to close my eyes upon its sum-
mit and think I may almost see its primitive builders at work trans-
porting in skins and bags the burdens of which it was built. In
imagery I can pictvire the ruler, the endless chain of workers revolv-
ing about the mound and through the pits below, where they digged
their dirt, and the great sun beaming affection for faith.
I have stood many times upon one of the blufT-crowning mounds
along the Illinois river and tried to imagine the great drama of
antiquity one time enacted there — the mound builders shaping their
mounds upon the topmost heights ; the strange boats in the river be-
low ; the mourners bearing their dead up the steep trails to the
mounded peaks, there to rest them where their undying eyes might
contemplate forever the beautiful valley in which they lived.
37
The archaeology of IlHnois is an inviting subject, because it is full
of promise. I do not know of another state or territory in the Union
which has before it a prospect equalling that offered here by the Caho-
kia group of mounds in Madison and St. Clair counties. Here is a
group of seventy-two mounds, one of them the largest remaining work
of the ancients north of Mexico, and the group itself unquestionably
marking the site of the metropolis of our country in ancient time,
which is yet to be explored. If the archaeologists working in Egypt
had not yet explored the pyramids of Gizeh, and those working in
Mexico had not yet explored the Temple of the Sun, the status of
archaeology in those fields would be analogous to that in Illinois at
this time, when we have not yet explored the great Cahokia group.
This does not mean that for almost a hundred years they have
not been gophered at, for they have been the scene of desultory explor-
ation from the time of Brackenridge, in 1811, until now. It does
not mean that they have not been studied upon the exterior by a great
many scientists and students, for they have long been the object of a
great deal of learned attention. It does not mean that they have not
yielded anything to the science of archaeology in either a local or
comparative sense, for we regard them today as the nearest approach
to written history left in the Mississippi valley by the people who built
mounds for other purposes than for mere burial. It does not mean
that they have not contributed a great deal to our archaeological col-
lections, for the immediate vicinity of the Cahokia mounds, and some
of the mounds themselves, have been for years and continue today a
fertile field for collectors.
What it does mean is that the archaeology of Illinois, and that of
the whole country as well, has not opened the most promising page
of the book when the Cahokia group remains without thorough explor-
ation ; when the great mound which is the chief glory of the group
remains unopened, and when the several huge, table-like tumuli in
the group have scarce been explored deeper than the reach of the
ploughshare.
It is almost alarming to think that Illinois archaeology may continue
much longer to drift in the aimless fashion which has characterized
it since the importance of the Cahokia mounds became known. We
have seen the hope of complete preservation irreparably lost. The
vandal and the farmer have worked wonders in obliteration. We have
seen the height of all the big table mounds diminish steadily every
year. We have seen the most beautiful and conical mound in the
group divested of its head by men who, for all the care they took to
preserve the configuratfon of the mound, might have been digging for
worms. We have seen the kind-faced, but sharp-hoofed cow climb
over the precious face of the great Cahokia mound, until that priceless
pyramid exposes trails and spots so vulnerable to the forces of erosion
that every rain sees something of its immensity descend in solution
and every year sees it lose some part of its perishable configuration.
If the great , Cahokia mound belonged to the Illinois Historical
Society and enjoyed its protection, what a comfort it would be to
th<-v<;p of us that tremble for its future ! The Serpent mound of Ohio
38
belongs to the Ohio Historical Society, Colorado has induced the gov-
ernment to take over her clifif dwellings. The government has stretched
forth its strong arm at Casa Grande and many other places in the
wonderland of the west. What of the Cahokia pyramid, lest it perish ?
It is so much greater than much that has been protected in other
states and made inviolate forever! It is so much more important to
science and education than the Serpent mound of Ohio, the old pueb-
los of Arizona, or even the cliff dwellings in Colorado, wonderful as
they are!
For a State which has had within her confines some of the most
distinctive records of the ancients, Illinois has an absolutely shameful
record as to their preservation. We formerly had in this State the
masterpiece of the ancient American pictographers. This was the
Piasa Bird, which decorated the face of a Mississippi river bluff at
Alton. The Piasa Bird was quarried down in the winter of 1846-7
and burned for lime. Our sole and feeble plea in extenuation is that
if it had not been quarried down, it would probably have disappeared
by this time, as St. Cosme, who saw it in 1699, said it was even then
very faint; and Russell, who saw it in the 1830's, says the Indians had
almost entirely destroyed it with their bullets and arrows. But our
experience with these pictographs along the Mississippi sadly weakens
this defense. There is a group of them three miles above the spot
where the Piasa was quarried down which my father sketched when
he came to Illinois in the middle of the last century. He thought they
could not long endure. But those of them which have not been car-
ried away by natural falls in the bluff' or cut out by collecting vandals
are there today to delight us, and in my judgment they will continue
there for many generations to see them, granting only they receive
the protection denied the Piasa.
I am not going to suggest the way in which the great Cahokia
mound might be taken over to that protective care it deserves, but I
want to emphasize the urgent need that this be done. It belongs to-
day to Mrs. Ramey, whose husband in his time gave to- its preservation
a great deal of care and thought. Mrs. Ramey is a very aged lady,
and if, at her death, it should fall into other hands, we shudder to
think of the possibilities, although they are not probabilities. Mr. D.
I. Bushnell of St. Louis has made the only serious effort to purchase
the mound of which I have any knowledge. He one time offered Mrs.
Ramey $10,000 for it. She asked $100,000, and he has recently told
me that since then she has increased her valuation by $50,000. Mr.
Bushnell's proposition, which was made as the representative of other
interests, was that he purchase eighteen acres. The mound covers
slightly more than sixteen, leaving but a slight margin around the
base in an eighteen-acre tract. From what I have recently seen over
there, the big mound is the only one in the group sufficiently preserved
to hope for any great financial outlay to preserve it. But two exca-
vations of any extent have ever been made in the big mound. One of
these was for a well, and penetrated forty feet through the west apron
of the mound. The other was a short tunnel in the north end a little
higher than half way up. This tunnel was made for the purpose of
39
exploration by the owner, Mr, Ramey, to test a neighborhood story
that a certain pine tree upon the side of the mound indicated the way
in to interior vaults or treasure. After driving the tunnel in some
fifty feet, Mr. Ramey abandoned the quest concluding that the folklore
of the neighborhood was hardly so reliable as the traditional treasure
island chart. Notwithstanding the belief of not a few scientists and
students that the big mound is either wholly or partially a natural emi-
nence shaped by the ancients, both these explorations confirmed, to
the limited extent of their penetrations, the almost general belief that
the mound is wholly artificial. In sinking the well the explorer found
occasional bits of pottery, some of them within a few inches of the
base of the mound. In the tunnel Mr. Ramey found only a piece of
crude lead, which is but one of many such finds in the Cahokia dis-
trict, in and out of the mounds. There was once a farm house on the
top of the mound, and in excavating a cellar for this, the builder of
the house found a number of human bones. My father was convinced
that the great mound was artificial. The almost sheer wall of black
earth upon the north end always seemed tO' him to be the same sticky
soil which covers the American bottom, and when he examined earth
taken out in one of the excavations he was quite sure he could detect
evidences that the earth had been thrown down in almost uniform
quantities, as if each had been what a laborer could have carried, per-
haps in a skin. Mr. Fenneman, who visited the mound last summer,
thought he detected loess in places upon it, and he belives that at
least some part of it is natural. But the possibility that he may be
mistaken serves to comfort those of us who have long ceased to ques-
tion the innumerable indications that the mound builders had no reason
to render thanks to any one but themselves when they shaped it up
and exclaimed, "Behold, it is done!"
The great Cahokia mound is often called the Monks' mound, a local
name given it in the early part of the nineteenth century, when the
monks of La Trappe appeared in the American bottom and secured a
grant of land which included the big mound and many others of the
group.
The local history of this occupation was never satisfactory to me,
and some two years ago 1 set about learning more of it. The Rev. Fr.
Obrecht, abbot of the Trappist monastery at Gethsemane, Ky., was
then upon the eve of departure for a visit to the parent monastery of
the order in France. I secured his promise to make inquiry for any-
thing bearing upon the Cahokia mounds that might have found its
way into the archives in France, and upon his return he wrote me the
following letter :
"About the end of November, 1808, two Trappists — Father Urbain, Superior,
and Father Joseph — looking for a favorable settlement for their colony of
about 35 religious brothers and children, met M. Jarrot, formerly procurator
of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, who, having settled at Cahokia, remained
there several years. He offered to Father Urbain 400 acres of land, consist-
ing chiefly of vast prairies surrounded by thick forests, on the border of a
little river near the Mississippi. This offer seemed at first advantageous,
but for some reason was not accepted at the time. Many other offers were
made which were not taken into serious consideration. Father Urbain was
40
then very sick. He remained, however, at Cahokia and St. Louis until the
last days of January, 1809, then, with Father Joseph, he returned to Casey
Creek, Ky.
"Shortly after, the major part of the community left Kentucky for St.
Louis, Father Urbain remaining at Casey creek with four brothers to settle
some business. He left this place six months later, and with three of his
brothers and six children, three of whom were negroes, went to Florissant,
where he arrived on Nov. 2, 1809. This place having not been found conven-
ient. Father Urbain resolved to settle on the lands previously offered to him by
M. Jarrot on the other side of the Mississippi, where he repaired with his
community. On the first days of 1810, he bought on the Looking Glass
Prairie the two highest of the forty ramparts which formed the ancient
necropole of the Indian. (This place was most probably the great burying
ground of Indian tribes under preceding ages.) When digging the ground to
lay the foundations of their homes, the religious Trappists found many
bones, idols, arms and materials of war, and many other Indian antiquities.
These elevations were generally called ramparts, and the highest of them still
has the name Rampart of the Monks, or Monks' Mound.
"These Indians had erected these gigantic monuments — pyramid-like, not
square, however, and built with stones and brick like the pyramids of Egypt —
but with ground purposely carried and heaped up on a circular basis of 160
feet, and reaching a height of more than 100 feet. This vast field was
formerly called Indiana Mound.
"The Trappists having bought two of these mounds, they erected on the
smallest of them twenty and some little houses made of logs. Their intention
was to build later on upon the highest mound an abbey near the highway
a few miles from St. Louis and the great bridge crossing the Mississippi.
The highest and largest of these little buildings, in the middle of the others,
was the church; another the Chapter Room; another the Ref rectory, etc.
Each was large enough to contain them all. Seen from a short distance,
these dwellings of Monks' Mound looked like a little village or camp of
travellers. To this beginning of the Trappists in Illinois, Father Urbain gave
later on the name of Our Lady of Bon Secours.
"Shortly after their arrival at Monks' Mound, the Trappists had to suffer
from a very malignant fever, the fatigue and hardships of their first in-
stallation and, usually, a corrupted water — ^the only one they could drink and
use for their cooking — having sickened them all. At their door was flowing
a little river so full of fish that many of them, dead, were floating on the
water. Such unhealthy water the Trappists drank; they had no time to
dig a well. Long before, several Indian tribes having tried to settle there,
they were for these reasons obliged to leave. Father Urbain fell sick like
the others. The soil, at first tilled and sown, was abandoned for absolute
■M-^ant of work. At last they could dig a well, which provided them with
excellent water. A good Catholic of Cahokia came to their assistance, and
soon the community was on foot. Only one religious had died so far.
"The first difficulties had not depressed the courage of the Trappists, and
they were ready to suffer much more for the glory of God and the welfare
of their adoptive country; but another difficulty presented itself. Father Ur-
bain had some doubts about the titles of the land he had bought in Illinois.
The government might contest them and make the Trappists lose the fruit of
all their labors, together with their hopes for the future. He then intended
to have the titles of ownership of the 400 acres he then possessed ratified
and sanctioned by the two houses of the next Congress; at the same time
he would try and secure the same ratification and sanction for 4,000 ad-
ditional acres he intended to buy in the neighborhood. He had every hope
to succeed in his undertaking. When Congress met, he had no diflSculty in
obtaining the ratification and sanction of the title of the 400 acres actually
in his posssession, but, in spite of all his efforts and many sacrifices (Father
Urbain being obliged to remain for a long time at Washington without any
other resources than the public charity) he could never obtain the hope of
similar action for the 4,000 acres he intended to buy. The President of the
41
Congress Mmself, and a good many of the members in both, houses, were in
favor of this acquisition by the Trappists; but many others (the most in-
fluential) owners of vast tracts in Maryland and Pennsylvania, being afraid
that the coming population would settle around the Trappist monastery, -thus
leaving perhaps deserts the vast lands they owned, opposed the proposition
by all possible means, and succeeded in preventing its realization. The
sessions of that Congress lasted until April 25, 1810.
"Prom Washington, Father Urbain returned to Our Lady of Bon Secours
(Monks' Mound) and found the majority of his religious in good health and
very busy with their plantation. The rough buildings had been somewhat
improved. All, from the Superior of the colony to the last head of cattle,
had much to do. Father Urbain's attention, however, was directed toward
the surrounding population, which he says in a letter dated April 28, 1810,
were in a deplorable moral condition. There was only one Catholic priest —
Rev. Rogation Olivier — who resided at Prairie du Chien, Illinois, and attended
Kaskaskia, Cahokia, St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. For fourteen years he
was the only priest in that country. To instruct and evangelize these com-
munities, Father Urbain sent two religious — Father Joseph and Father Ber-
nard, a Canadian whom he had brought with him from New York to Casey
Creek. Father Bernard had for his task St. Louis and the two borders of
the Mississippi; but, being old already and exhausted by many previous
labors, he soon succumbed, probably in February, 1811. Father Joseph, more
intrepid, (his name was Jean Pierre Dunand, born in France in 1774; grena-
dier in the French arms during the great Revolution. He was one day
ordered to shoot a priest. He refused to obey, and, leaving the army, became
a Trappist religious) went farther into the west beyond the great river,
baptizing, evangelizing, visiting the sick, burying the dead, etc. He went
through almost the whole country without a stop, traveling day and night,
correcting abuses and converting the sinners. At the death of Father Ber-
nard, Father Urbain, together with the care of his community, took upon him-
self the task left by his departed brother, and showed the greatest energy
and most admirable zeal in continuing this most excellent work of civilization.
"About the middle of the year 1812, a terrible calamity befell the com-
munity at Monks' Mound. A very pernicious fever had for two years, and
mostly during the summer of 1811, devastated the whole country. At the
beginning of the following year, it was the turn of the Trappists at Monks'
Mound. In a very short time all of them were unable to do anything, even to
help one another. The intensity of the scourge decreased during the autumn,
but the following year (1813) brought it back again with renewed severity.
The most necessary things became out of price; many people who could not
care for their children sent them to Father Urbain, who could not refuse them.
The sickness was extreme in the community. All sacred vessels, except a
single one, were sold one after the other. Religious and brothers fell victims
of the epidemic. There was left scarcely a sufficient number to bury the
dead. More than half of the community had disappeared, and those who
"were still alive were so weak that it seemed impossible for them to stand
any longer against such unhealthful conditions. Having sold the best they
could their property and materials, in March, 1813, the Trappists left Monks'
Mound, going to Pittsburg, N. Y., and later returning to France.
"A new colony of Trappists came to America and founded the colony of
Gethsemane, Ky., in 1848.
"We know of no picture of the mound with the monastry on it, nor of the
monastery, which consisted, in fact, of twenty and some little buildings."
Brackenridge visited the Monks' mound when the monks of La
Trappe were there. He saw their houses and the grains and fruits
growing upon the great mound. He makes a similar report as to the
great numbers of bones and reHcs everywhere dug up around the
mounds. He says the bluffs east of the Cahokia group seem to have
been one vast burying ground, and that the quantity of bones and
artifacts everywhere dug up in and among the mounds was enormous.
42
But, for all that, it is doubtful if the whole cemetery of the Cahokia
ancients has ever been discovered. My father was inclined to think
it had not. Where so many people lived for so many generations,
there must have been a much greater burial of the dead and their
possessions than has been discovered. I think his experience of 1882,
when he took more than 100 pieces of pottery from the flat field at the
northeast corner of the big mound, constitutes the nearest approach
that has been made to actual discovery of the principal cemetery of
Cahokia. But what is such a handful, and what are all the ends and
odds of bone and stone discovered everywhere about the group, when
we think of what must have been buried? Prof. WJMcGee esti-
mates the population of the immediate vicinity, when the community
which built the mounds was in its fullest power, at from ioo,ocxd to
150,000. I believe it is the general opinion of archaeologists who
have studied the question that the Cahokia mounds mark the site of
the ancient metropolis of the United States. Morgan does not estimate
the population of any of the ancient Ohio communities at more than
two, three or four thousand ; and even the Chaco canyon in New
Mexico, with all its giant pueblo ruins, is not credited by later esti-
mates with a greater population than forty or fifty thousand. So that
if ^we are to subscribe in any great measure to Professor McGee's
estimate of the ancient population of the Cahokia region, we permit
it no rivals for metropolitan honors. I have not fully shared Pro-
fessor McGee's theory as to the population of Cahokia; but I have
seen the Chaco, and I have unhesitatingly yielded Cahokia first place
in both population and age.
We can very easily underestimate in approximating the popula-
tion of a community like that which must have lived for a
long time in the American bottom. It must be remembered
that the Cahokia group almost certainly antedates the burial
mounds so numerous in the Illinois valley and along the whole Illinois
bank of the Mississippi. Cahokia dates back to the ante-hunting era
in which the Indians were agricultural. It is not unreasonable to
suppose that the actual builders of the Cahokia mounds may never
have seen a buffalo, this privilege coming long afterward to the later
generations of Cahokians. The immensity of their village site, as we
can see it in its ruins ; the wholly agricultural type of much of their
work in flint, such as the great spades and hoes almost peculiar to
that vicinity ; the suitability of the rich alluvial bottomland for such
agriculture as they had, and what we know of the buffalo and the
effect its phenomenal increase and spread across the country had upon
aboriginal life, all contribute to prove that the people who populated
Cahokia were perhaps wholly agricultural. They probably fished and
hunted to some extent, but they depended for their subsistence upon
labor in the field, and their staple food was unquestionably corn.
In this consideration we discover the line which divides the two
principal eras of aboriginal life in the Mississippi valley. When the
buffalo multiplied with such rapidity as to overflow its native plains
and crossed the Mississippi to penetrate as far east as Virginia and as
far southeast as the Carolinas and Georgia, the Indians in the territorv
43
covered by this overflow began to find the chase an easier and more
engaging means of subsistence than growing crops. Fewer corn rows
were planted and more hunting was done. Allen says, speaking of
the Great Bone Lick in Kentucky: "The evidence obtained at this
point leads to the conclusion that the first appearance of the buffalo
in Kentucky was singularly recent, and also shows that their coming
was like an irruption in its suddenness." We know what a transform-
ation this wrought in the case of the Siouan peoples, who left their
homes in the east and hunted the bufifalo westward until the more
adventurous located in the Dakotahs.
These people passed through Illinois, and undoubtedly we have
many records of that migration in the newer mounds and the great
abundance of artifacts from the stone age, which we never see with-
out feeling that they were subsequent to the more agricultural types
of stone art having their foremost representatives in the big and com-
monly known southern Illinois spades and hoes. To approximate the
time when this great movement occurred is perhaps not so difficult as
we may think. That it occurred within the last 500 years would seem
extremely likely. The buffalo wave seems to have reached its eastern
and southern crest between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. In
1540-41 DeSoto marched diagonally through the southern part of the
United States from Florida to Arkansas. He first heard of the buf-
falo from some of his soldiers who went into the mountains of north-
ern Georgia. It was absent from southern Georgia, as it had been
from Florida, and he saw nothing of it in Alabama and Mississippi.
Only upon crossing the Mississippi did he find himself in a buffalo
country. Yet the buffalo is known to have subsequently ranged over
all this territory, with the possible exception of Georgia. It even got
as far as the gulf. DuPratz found it abundant in Mississippi early in
the eighteenth century, and says it was then, and had been for a long
time, the chief food of the Indians in that part of the country. The
eastern range of the buffalo in the country north of that traversed
by DeSoto, while ante-dating the southeastern range considerably,
could not, then, have been at its height in the middle of the sixteenth
century. From which we must conclude that the transition in aborig-
inal life east of the Mississippi was probably proceeding at the time
of the Columbian discovery and doubtless worked its greatest changes
even after that time. It marked the close of the agricultural era,
which in its fullness had produced the Cahokia mounds. The people
of Cahokia naturally would have felt the influence of the' eastward
range of the buffalo long before tribes east of them were affected by
the same agency, so that the westward movement of the Siouan peoples
to the Mississippi could have found Cahokia long ago deserted.
We can easily understand how the one mode of life made Cahokia
and how the other destroyed it. We know that agriculture, when prac-
ticed to the virtual exclusion of all other means of subsistence, influ-
enced the Indians to live in permanent homes in communal relation
and to be comparatively peace loving. Upon the other hand, we know
that the chase made them nomadic and warlike. The advantages which
the one mode of life possesses over the other for progress and civiliza-
44
tion are obvious. So we may well believe that the lower state of
barbarism in which some of our chase-following Indians were found
by the whites was, perhaps, considerably lower than the same people
had enjoyed in earlier generations, when they were farming in the
American bottoms.
The inevitable result of the appearance of the buffalo at Cahokia
would have been the gradual abandonment of agriculture and, eventu-
ally, a complete breaking up of the communtiy. What had formerly
been a populous community — a primitive city — subsequently sufficed
to but sparsely people a wilderness. The American bottom offered
every inducement to the one mode of life and virtually none to the
other. Coronado's historian, Castaneda, tells us that the Pueblo Indi-
ans, who practiced agriculture, lived in populous and permanent com-
munities exactly as we find them today ; but that the Comanches, who
hunted the buffalo, had no homes, but ever wandered the plains in
roaming bands. Defections from the Cahokia community, due to the
buffalo, could have so weakened it by the time the westward move-
ment of eastern tribes set in toward the country of better hunting that
aggressive people, pushing in from the east and north, could have
driven the remainder oft' down the valley. But it seems the likelier
that, of their own choice to hunt rather than to farm, the Cahokians
were themselves the undoers of all they had done in the long period
of time in which they had dwelt there, and that they left of their own
sweet will, rather than that any part of them fled from invaders.
Unquestionably but a small part of the whole number of buffalo ever
crossed the Mississippi river, and those which did get beyond it were
so reduced in numbers when the Europeans came that they were no
longjer a factor in the primitive life of the east. We know, however,
that even after the Revolutionary war some of the eastern Indians
were going west to the buffalo country. Harmon's journal of the
first years of the nineteeth century relates that bands of Iroquois Indi-
ans penetrated into the northwest beyond Lake Superior to hunt the
buffalo, some of them seeming to have become permanently estranged
from the main body of their people. Though it is known that the
prairies of Illinois must have been, in the time when the buffalo over-
flow was at its height, a favorite range of the buffalo east of the
Mississippi, and while it is known that the first white people to pene-
trate here occasionally saw a buffalo east of the river, it is a rare thing
to find any sort of buffalo sign in the mounds. I think that in all the
time I worked in the field along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers
I saw but one piece of buffalo bone taken from the mounds, and the
absence of the buffalo from the pictographs of this region, the effigy
pottery and the pipes and flints, seems to indicate that in the centuries
when the most of our archseological records were made the people of
Illinois did not know the buffalo, at least to any great extent. In the
subsequent era when they did know him, and intimately, their mode
of life had so changed that they no longer made or left anything much
which reflected their experience. A nomadic people leave but dim
tracks, so swiftly do they move about and to such a low order of
barbarism do they descend when hunters and nothing more. Cas-
45
taneda says the Comanches were almost like wild animals, eating the
flesh of the buffalo raw, and having scarce any implements or utensils
beyond those with which the}- slew and dressed their game.
Had it not been for the Illinois river, it is likely that the first explor-
ers of Illinois would have found here but few Indians. The great
chase had passed off to the west. The Indians who had not gone west
ward with it, having lapsed from the old mode of life and not wholly
embracing the new, became a composite type which practiced some-
thing of the old pursuit and something of the new. They hunted some
and farmed some, and both the chase and the field furnished suste-
nance. They were semi-nomadic, and this tended to discourage large
communities and structures for communal dwelling, such as their fore-
bears had reared at Cahokia. Whatever progress they had made
toward government in the agricultural era, when they doubtless did
have men of comparatively great power, lapsed into small chieftain-
cies. In a word, the old mode of life assembled them as a nation and
the new dissembled them, and in this latter condition they were found
by the early Illinois explorers.
But they were nevertheless found in considerable numbers in the
Illinois valley, which offered exceptional advantages suitable to the
new mode of life. The first Europeans to range through this part of
the wilderness attest that for the purposes of the Indians this was
altogether the most desirable country they saw. Joutel, who had
come overland from Texas, says of the Illinois river after leaving the
Mississippi : ''We found a great alteration in that river, as well with
respect to its course, which is very gentle, as to the country about it,
which is much more agreeable and beautiful than that about the great
river, by reason of the many fine woods and variety of fruit its banks
are adorned with. It was a very great comfort to us to find so much
ease in going up that river, by reason of its gentle stream, so that we
all stayed in the canoe and made much more way."
So that while the occupation of the Illinois valley in the first era
of numerous primitive life in Illinois was perhaps very slight, it was
heavier in the second than that of any other region in the State.
Which is why we find there innumerable mounds of the second period,
but nothing approaching the records of the first era found at Cahokia.
The age of great communities, with their huge tumuli, had passed.
In its dissembled state the national life became hazardous beyond
anything the people at Cahokia had known. The evidences of this are
manifold. The indications of death by violence are much more num-
erous in the Illinois valley than they are in the American bottom. I
have seen things on the Illinois which are not only undiscoverable in
the Cahokia region, but are peculiar to the small mounds. The work
of the war club is everywhere apparent. At Teneriffe, twelve miles
above the mouth of the Illinois, we opened at least one large mound
in v/hich almost every skeleton bore unmistakable evidence of death in
battle. Skulls were crushed as if by a blow. In one instance a long
spear had cut through the ribs and lodged under the bones of the
chest. In another an arrow was found sticking in one of the vertabrse
46
of the spine. This interesting relic I took from the mounds with my
own hands, and it may be seen today in its original condition in the
collection at Monticello Seminary at Godfrey, 111. In the Hartford
Peak mounds, six miles above the mouth of the Illinois, there were
about lOO Indians buried. Twenty-five per cent of, them, perhaps, had
been slain in battle in such a way that the manner of death was easily
determinable.
It is a matter of history that the Iroquois, who probably had not
ranged so far west until the westward movement of eastern tribes was
provoked by the buffalo, frequently ravaged this valley. All the early
explorers in the Illinois relate instances of this, and De Tonti even led
the Indians of the Illinois in their defense against these invaders. On
the Brussels prairie, in Calhoun county, the abundance of primitive
war implements on the field and the frequent occurrence of mutilated
skeletons in the mounds upon the surrounding hills all tend to show
that the Indians had engaged in a terrible battle upon the Illinois river
plain. The proof that it was western Indians with whom those of the
valley were contending was abundantly furnished by the weapons
found with the dead.
In conclusion, just a word as to the origin of the first considerable
migration of primitive people into Illinois. Unquestionably their
monuments are at Cahokia, And such monuments ! The great Caho-
kia mound is 102 feet high. Its longest axis is 998 feet; the shortest,
721 feet. It covers sixteen acres, two rods and three perches. The
great pyramid of Cheops, in Egypt, is 746 feet square. The temple
mound of the Aztecs, in Mexico, is 680 feet square. In volume the
Cahokia pyramid is the greatest structure of its kind in the world.
The preponderance of evidence teaches us that the people of Caho-
kia were sun worshippers. Some vestiges of this solar religion
remained in the lower Mississippi valley when the explorers came.
Knowing the influence which the agricultural and communal life
exerted upon the Indians, we must conclude that the great Cahokia
mound was a religious temple. What a stimulant to the imagination
is here offered ! I once spent a beautiful moonlit evening upon this
great mound, and so potent were the time and the place to carry me
back to its halcyon days, that I fancied I could almost see the undying
fire of the ancients burning upon the summit and the surrounding flat
teeming with worshipful life. There is so much about Cahokia that
is similar to the works of the Aztecs that we cannot escape the con-
viction that it was from that part of the world that these people came
to this, bringing their religion, their priesthood, their corn, their mode
of life and their middle order of primitive civilization. But we do
not associate in our minds with Cahokia the terrible Aztec sacrifices,
nor even believe that the people, in fact, were Aztecs in the historical
definition of that name. The American Indians sprang from a com-
mon stock of autochthonous life, and the human history of the far
southwest seems by every criteria so much older than that of this far
northern country that when we look for the trails over which our
m
47
people came to Cahokia, wje naturally turn our faces toward that
wonderful land as the only source, seemingly, from which they could
have sprung. That there should have been evolved out of their long
absence from the southwest a great deal peculiar to this section is
characteristic.
The builders of Cahokia are gone. The fire which burned through
the watches of the night is dead, and the four Avinds have scattered its
ashes. But the temple! Their temple is still there — wonderful, hoary,
beautiful to see. What shall we do with their temple?
48
ROUTE OF COLONEL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND HIS
ARMY FROM KASKASKIA TO VINCENNES,
1779.*
By F. M. Woolard.
In the summer of 1888 I received from the late Dr. Lyman C. Dra-
per, at that time in charge of the Wisconsin state historical library, a
letter, stating that he had learned from a member of the Filson Club,
at Louisville, Kentucky, that I entertained views widely differing from
those generally accepted concerning the "route" traveled by Colonel
George Rogers Clark and his army from Kaskaskia to Vincennes in
1779. He very pertinently inquired my reasons for so thinking, why
and how long I had entertained such notions, and several other ques-
tions that almost staggered me by the directness of the assault. After
recovering to some extent from my embarrassment, I informed him
that I had entertained serious doubts concerning Clark's having chosen
and traveled by way of the old "Vincennes Trace," at my first reading
an account of that expedition, when quite young ; and that doubts had
grown with increasing strength, the more I thought and learned con-
cerning the subject or became more familiar with it. At the time
Doctor Draper made these inquiries, I had not seen a copy of "Bow-
man's Journal," and was, in consequence, without the light which that
work cast upon the subject in question. I stated to him also that it
would seem preposterous, and little less than impertinent, for an ordi-
nary individual to call in question the statements which had so long
been recognized and followed by the many prominent and able authors
who had written upon this subject. Among the first articles which I
read upon Clark's conquest of the northwest territory were newsoaoer
sketches by Dr. John M. Peck ; and later. Governor Reynolds' "Plo
neer History of Illinois," both incidentally asserting without comment*
that Clark's route was over the "Vincennes Trace." As nearly seventy
years had elapsed since that wonderful conquest was accomplished
before these worthy gentlemen published their accounts of the event, I
was strengthened in the belief that they must have easily taken it for
granted — and in a matter of course sort of way, without further in-
vestigation — that the "Trace," the only recognized highway across the
country, had been openly followed by the little army of invaders.
Well knowing, and holding both of these worthy gentlemen in the
* The final settlement of the question raised by this paper can be attained only by a thor-
ough sifting of the mass of evidence collected by the late Lyman C. Draper of the Wisconsin
Historical Society.
VIEW OF KASKASKIA IN 1895.
Taken from the Southwest Angle of the Fort Across the River.
49
highest esteem and beheving them conscientious in what they had
pubhshed, I was still forced to the conclusion that, in the absence of
direct information on the subject, that they had naturally and easily
"assumed" that the "Trace" route had been taken. This conclusion
may appear strange, but I feel that this statement is due to their mem-
ory under the light now in hand. It may be contended that as Rey-
nolds came to this country when a lad, in 1800, and Dr. Peck about
twenty years later, that they must have known some of Clark's soldiers
who settled m the vincinity after the war. This is more than prob-
able, but it is not so probable that they ever especially catechised or
interrogated these veterans concerning what particular "route" they
had taken on their way to Vincennes, when the more striking and
master events in that contest would be uppermost in each and every
consultation. Their conclusion was natural enough, had there been
no good and sufficient reasons for doubting its accuracy. After two-
thirds of a century and more than two successive generations have
passed away, it may safely be regarded as somewhat late to conclude
that the "Trace" had been followed by Clark, because that was the
only route regarded as practical by civilians in times of flooded streams.
Evidently at the time of such publication the mere question of the
"route" had not been seriously considered, or probably discussed, as
that was of minor interest among the stirring events of the campaign ;
and the heroic participants had all answered the last call of the "long
roll," ever to be honored as active factors in one of the most moment-
ous events of our country's history.
None were left to speak for themselves, and in a controversy over
the route they may have traveled, one assumption may justly weigh
as heavily in the balance as an opposing one ; leaving circumstances,
conditions, probabilities, the leaders, with their make-up and prece-
dents, and such other light as may be gleaned from limited current
records to be cast into the scales, to determine, as far as possible, which
one of the contentions must probably be correct. While we may lose
out in our contentions, from lack of ability to present its facts in proper
form, we have not a single doubt concerning its truth. Not until long
after means of securing positive evidence had passed, was the world
suddenly confronted by what some may regard as an assumption, sup-
ported onl_v by assertion, without comment, or traditional standing, so
far as no'w known ; over which circumstances, environments, existing
conditions and grave probabilities cast, at least, a shadow. The
"assumption" has seemingly enthroned itself within its citadel, claim-
ing title by a prolonged, but tolerated possession of the field — the
"nine points in law" — where it may hurl defiance at assailants, who
must, of necessity, contend at a disadvantage and fight from an open
plain. While a flat denial for counter-assumption, at best, may not
quite serve to balance the scale, the cloud yet remains. Evidences
must be searched out from such meager sources as may be even
slightly available, still leaving the cloud hanging over the balances.
Depositions must be secured from the make-up, character, habits,
talents, sagacity and experiences of participants ; and circumstances
— 4 H S
50
and reasonable probabilities must be presented in the case, to assist in
dispelling the cloud, and casting light upon the situation. Then the
testimony of the marsh lands, "drowned lands," the rivers and minor
streams, islands, prairies, trees, deep waters, etc., etc., and a more
probable line of march, re-enforced by existing testimony, and reasons
for following it : also, reasons for not following the presumed route,
must all be brought before the court, and allowed to testify. The broad
assumption and assertion that Clark followed the open "Vincennes
Trace," on his march to that city, covers but a moment of time, and
an inch of space ; while the task of any rival contention, is long, tedious,
and an unthankful one, though conscientiously made in search of light
and truth.
I could not believe that Col. Clark, as we now see, and regard him,
would hazard all upon a route where spies, traders, or Indians were
liable to be encountered at any moment, and thus, place him at the
.mercy of a forewarned antagonist who could overwhelm him and all his
hopes upon short notice. He had hastily left Kaskaskia, for fear
Hamilton would "cut him off," though fortified at that place, and it
may be claimed for good reason, that this situation would have been
far more desperate, if attacked in an open field, on the "Trace." I am
not contending m order to sustain a favorite theory, or carry a point;
as I have no such interest in the matter ; foe I do not believe that Clark
traveled on the "Trace," or crossed the Little Wabash, where it is en-
countered on that line ; and this conviction has grown stronger, for
years, and still stronger, the more I have sought to investigate the
subject. At first my reasons for so thinking, sprang from the situation
in which he found himself placed, when preparing, hastily for this ex-
pedition. It will be remembered how utterly helpless he was to render
assistance to Capt. Helm, at Fort Sackville, being compelled to stand
still and wait the recapture of that point by the enemy, while a small
force might have successfully held that important position, thus re-
taining in his own hands the key to the situation. It will assist us in
solving the problem, at issue, by considering the environments and ad-
verse circumstances under which the intrepid commander was at that
time placed. He is reported to have said, "If I don't take him, he will
take me," referring to Gov. Hamilton. The remark is characteristic
of the forethought and style of the man. Hamilton had Clark seem-
ingly at his mercy ; and no one more fully realized this fact or measured
its consequences to their full depth, than did Clark himself. Delay was
dangerous in the extreme; absolute secrecy was a necessity, while any
chance exposure of his plans would have been fatal. His situation
was desperate and he had to act with the greatest alacrity, or all would
be lost. Every instinct of his great nature ; his well known cunning
and obstinacy and above all, the wonderful sagacity of George Rogers
Clark, in his prime, would rise up in protest against any proposition
to expose himself and his handful of men on the only public highway
leading to the point of his greatest solicitude : a route upon which
escape from exposure would be almost impossible. The dangers from
the "Trace" route were too imminent, and the risk too great for a
moment's consideration ; especially when a wide open country offered
51
its hospital shelter, with safe and concealed, but untried ways, where
he could lead his gallant band in safety to sure victory. By this course
he could have safe and easy communication with his boat and supplies,
if necessary. Col. Clark may, with some measure of truth, be charged
with rashness ; while the audacity of his plans doubtless contributed
much to his greatest success in terrifying and nonplussing his enemies ;
but we fail to find a single instance in his wonderful career where he
left open an opportunity for an enemy to secure an advantage over
him, or left a single stone unturned that would contribute to the suc-
cess of his well matured plans. The "Trace" route, in this expedition
is not reasonable under the trying circumstances, and would be a
travesty upon the well known characteristics and mental methods of
this masterful, young commander. His early career upon the arena,
was like a blazing meteor, whirling through the darkest sky, illumin-
ating the dim horizon to its outer bounds, bringing hope in an hour
of deepest depression, both to the rude cabin of the frontier, with its
barred door, and the stately mansion in the older colonies, alike. He
was the first in Kentucky to put in operation the plan of fighting the
Indian upon his own ground ; and he did his work with telling effect.
Nor did he follow well known trails in finding his enemies. He did
not advertise his coming, but always came when least expected.
Through this intense man's daring and sagacity, sustained by the brawn
and bone of hardy frontiersmen, who had bitter wrongs to avenge,
an empire was added to his country's limits, making possible the other
extensions, which make our own Fatherland the greatest, grandest,
and best nation upon the face of the earth. Let us not withhold from
this truly great man of daring and doing, any measure of credit to
which his sagacity and brilliant successes entitle him. His stalwart,
manly form has now been at rest for more than four score years, but
let us, though late, render full justice to those sterling qualities of
both mind and heart, which made him truly great. This truly brave
and great man had the courage to express his "fears" of any ex-
posure that would give the enemy an advantage, or notice of his inten-
tions. He did so on the road from Fort Massac, also at Kaskaskia,
and on the way to Vincennes, showing fully how closely he clung to
his precaution at all times, and in all places where dangers were lurk-
ing. While fully competent to plan and act, his good sense prompted
him to be ever on the alert, against any possible danger of exposure,
or surprise. The very assumption that he* had taken such a hazardous
course as to expose his army on the "Trace," is little, if anything
short of his impeachment as a sagacious military leader, secrecy was
always a strong factor m his plans, for, upon that rested his success,
and the salvation of his army. Notwithstanding the great confidence
of his followers in this strong man, and his skill in war, it is not so
certain that they would not have openly protested at any unnecessary
course that promised only disaster. He was careful, so far as possible,
to inform himself of the condition of the enemy, and in each instance,
pounce upon, and crush him, like a lion from his hidden lair.
52
True, at A'incennes he gave brief notice of his actual presence, de-
ceiving the garrison in regard to his own resources, resorting to his
favorite "game of bluff," at which, h!e is justly entitled to rank as a
"past master," and thus compensating for his lack of facilities for
the accomplishment of his great purpose.
Even then, he scarcely gave the foe time to recover from their first
Arctic chill ; and before the frigid perspiration had dried upon their
devoted brows, his picked riflemen, from secret coverts, were plug-
ging them through the port-holes.
In giving his consent, and limited assistance to George Rogers
Clark in this desperate enterprise, Gov. Patrick Henry rightly judged
his man, and was not mistaken. At any period of this justly celebrated
campaign, a brief exposure would surely have proved disastrous to
the broad purposes of the commander. With his limited force, he
must come upon the enemy unexpectedly. He dared not pursue a
different course ; nor did he ! His methods were audacious, but well
matured, and this feature in the methods of the commander, re-en-
forced by the material makeup of his little army, turned the scale in
his favor, while the world has not yet ceased to wonder at the long
list of consequences.
When at first compelled to call in question the accuracy of the com-
monly accepted declaration, that Clark had followed the "Vincennes
Trace," T had no conception whatever of any other route by which
he might have accomplished his purpose. My doubts had not crossed
the confines of the encampment at Kaskaskia ; and were all centered
there. They were confined to the man Clark, his character and sa-
gacity as a commander, his lack of means and facilities, existing con-
ditions, environment, and the very great improbability of his recklessly
taking chances on being discovered on the only public highway, the
"Trace." I had no knowledge concerning any ground over which he
might have traveled, nor, had I any interest in the matter, more than
other citizens. I clung tenaciously to the high estimate I had placed
upon the man, in preference to the nrere statement that he had marched
on the "Trace." It simply and stubbornly struck me that he would
not, and did not hazard all upon a course where every interest in-
volved would be in great danger, from exposure. While the doubts
remained tenaciously with me, of their own accord, they grew stronger.
the more I investigated, for many years. I had no means of combating
the assumption and assertion that the "Trace" route had been taken on
the line of march, excepting those mentioned elsewhere in this article.
Being unable, after many years, to get rid of my doubts, even had I
so desired, I cast about in C[uest of any probable course which he might
have followed, instead of the "Trace." In his brief statement, Clark
had "blazed" or mentioned only one spot on the way, until he en-
countered the floods of Embarrass river. This place mentioned was
the "two Wabashes." No route was entitled to consideration, which
fell short of this special mark. Four separate points could claim the
distinction upon their individual merits. They were the Muddy, Fox,
Elm and Skillet Fork ; some of them insignificant, it is true, but all
53
contributed to the floods of the mother stream, the Little Wabash.
And all, were within a proper radius for consideration, for "the dis-
tinguished honor." Any one of them could claim to be the "real thing,"
should circumstances and reasonable probabilities not interpose. In
searching for a feasible route, it struck me forcibly, that it could well
have answered Clark's purpose, to go about ninety miles eastward,
in absolute freedom from danger of discovery, to the intersection of
the Skillet Fork with the Little Wabash river, near the location of the
present city of Carmi, in White county. Now, Clark was not out for
the sole purpose of finding the "two Wabashes," but he did find, and
put his mark upon such a place ; and in seeing the spot, we must find
the mark, and the goods ; and the goods must answer to every demand,
in a careful measurement. There were the streams, "three miles" apart
and the "drowned lands," "five miles" over ; all of which answered
fairly well the conditions mentioned, excepting the island also men-
tioned, which I did not find. I can not positively say that the "little
bit" does not exist there, however, but it is one of the necessities abso-
lutely required on the line of any claim, for this distinction ; and its
absence, will, as a missing link, tear asunder the strongest chain.
Nor will any "easy mark" be accepted as something "just as good."
Later I became practically familiar with about all of the regions over
which the army might have passed, including the "Trace" and south
of it, with the exception of that portion leading for a few miles north-
east of Kaskaskia, which latter cuts no figure in the controversy. It
still looked as if the Carmi route might answer as the place where
the "two Wabashes" were crossed. It is a little out of the way, but
that could have been a satisfactory reason for taking that course. This
southern way carried with it the interesting fact that Clark, on that
route, could be in easy communication with his boat, her guns and
supplies, as he advanced northeastward. It also ofifered him and his
little army better facilities for escape in case of disaster. At the
time this southern route was under consideration I had not yet seen
a copy of Bowman's Journal. Some of his statements are fairly
applicable to this southern way, while the "Trace" route would have
almost eliminated his notes as a record upon that line. Still, this
southern course would have relieved the army from such dangers of
exposure as were liable to have been met with on the open "Trace."
Such danger was of vital importance, and cannot be rudely thrust
aside without being reckoned with. It is well to bear in mind the
fact that in the interior, Clark mentions but one place, viz., the "two
Wabashes" and the "little bit" of dry; land between them. This
"little bit" should be called "Clark's Island," by right of discovery.
No one questions the fact that "Fox" river crosses the "Trace" and
enters the "Little Wabash" a few miles lower down. The fact that
later writers, following the first assumption, should mention Fox
river is not essential to this controversy. The Fox was easily mistaken
for the Bon Pas, flowing farther south. The trouble lies in the orig-
inal, erroneous and misleading conclusion that the "Trace" had been
at all followed. There is one important feature, to which special atten-
tion should be given; for it is pertinent, and will largely assist in
54
reaching a fair solution of the questions involved in this discussion.
It is this : All of the larger and many of the minor southern Illinois
streams flow southward. At the time of the conquest the country lying
between the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash rivers was a wide wilder-
ness waste, but little known, excepting a few points along those
streams. Where a stream was encountered, for instance, on the
"Trace," its outlet was unknown. Should a larger stream be met
with farther south and near the same longitude, it was easy and nat-
ural to assume, or conclude, or assert, that they were one and the
same stream. Hence, this easy confusion of names, when such were
mentioned ; for it cannot be denied that such confusion did occur, and
in one instance where the river mentioned was many miles from the
route. While , a few of these streams were given names, little or
nothing was known concerning them other than where encountered.
Such confusion was unavoidable, with such limited knowledge of the
interior.
During a considerable correspondence with Doctor Draper con-
cerning the route traveled by Clark on his way to Vincennes, he fre-
quently mentioned the route from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia, always
appearing very solicitous for any scraps of information on the subject.
I was compelled to inform him that I knew of no reliable data on the
subject. Recently I have seen maps, upon which were marked what
purported to be the Massac and the Vincennes Traces. Upon what
authority this was done, I know not, but am pleased to say that they
seem probably as nearly accurate as could be made at this date, with
the exception of where Xenia now stands, the Vincennes Trace bore
northeastward toward Louisville and Sailor's Springs, in Clay county,
in order to head off the high waters ; and after crossing the Little
Wabash, then bearing southeast to near v.^here the present city of
Olney is located. The Trace ought to be located, as far as now pos-
sible, for it was the first highway across the State. At doubtful points
the commissioners should be allowed to "assume," to the best of their
ability ; but be required to drive stone pegs in the ground bearing
proper dates, that future generations may not mistake the assumptions
for realities. So far as I know, I had long stood alone in questioning
the reliability of the original "assumption," although such doubts may
have occurred to others, for similar or different reasons ; and it is
encouraging to know that such sentiments are now not uncommon.
In his recently published and truly fascinating "Historic Illinois,"
I was highly pleased to find in Mr. Randall Parish an author with the
courage to openly set at defiance the long existing, but unsupported
assumption, which rendered necessary this controversy sooner or later,
and boldly and without comment suggest a course that is both reason-
able and probable in the main, being fairly well sustained by conditions
existing at the time of their occurrence and such records of that period
as are now available on the subject. He is certainly close to the mark,
whatever his motives may have been. It may be safely said that a
careful application of the notes with their corresponding dates of Bow-
man's Journal will give quite an accurate idea of the real "route" taken
on this march to Vincennes, but it will hardly be found along the
55
"Trace." And this view, I feel assured, will be sustained by a rigid
investigation and an accurate knowledge of the territory involved.
After allowing the Carmi or more southern course to stand unmo-
lested for several years, and with doubts unshaken concerning the
"Trace" as even a possible route, for reasons already mentioned, upon
a close investigation I discovered that a route upon an almost direct
line leading from Kaskaskia to Vincennes would intersect Elm river
at or very near its junction with the Little Wabash. To my great sur-
prise, upon a more thorough investigation I found this easily met,
severally and singly all and every condition mentioned by those
engaged in this wonderful campaign. To this statement I challenge
the fullest and most searching investigation, feeling well assured con-
cerning the outcome after the very strongest searchlight has been cast
upon the scene. The streams in the course pursued are "three miles"
apart and also in direct line are the "five miles" of "drowned lands"
mentioned by both Clark and Bowman. Shortly after crossing Elm
river on the direct line, the "little bit" of dry land mentioned is encoun-
tered. It is a sand mound, covering several acres of ground, a small
portion of which has never been subject to overflow. The early set-
tlers found Indian graves there ; the skeletons couched in a sitting
posture, encased by flat stones. I have picked up human teeth, scraps
of bones and flint implements there. It has been in cultivation since
the early seittlements in the vicinity. The place was long known as
"Skeleton Island," but is now owned by 'Squire Marvel Hill of Fair-
field. Further along the line, but still between the rivers and among
the "drowned lands," is met a strip of slightly higher ground, known
as "White Oak Ridge," which overflows, but not so deeply as the sur-
rounding valley, and in times of flood is covered by two feet or more
of water, answering to the more shallow places mentioned by- the com-
mander. Taking everything, pro and con, into consideration, it would
be safe to say that if the effulgent rays of the modern camera could
be thrust backward through time and space to the 15th of February,
1779, right here and on this line would be found George Rogers Clark
and his heroic band of rugged frontiersmen, conquerors, struggling,
suffering and enduring untold hardships and privations that the father-
land might be freed from the iron hand of tyrants and oppressors and
the bloody scalping knife banished from the borders.
Close to the line crossing the island, on the Barton Crews farm, near
where Clark probably first encountered the flood, the bluff is not
abrupt ; and right there, only a few years since, were the plainly visible
remains of a prominent old buffalo trail, leading westward toward
Arrington prairie, surely mentioned by Bowman as "Cot plains,"
where "numbers of buffalo" had been "killed" on the line of march.
East of this place, in Edwards county, this trail is fairly marked.
Where Clark first encountered this trail, if west of the Skillet Fork,
we have no means of ascertaining, although it might add information
of value if available, as these trails were often followed by early ad-
venturers. It is not improbable that this course was, to some extent
at least, known as a "way" by early French habitues, though un-
56
marked. At one time the buffalo was accredited as a pioneer road mark-
er on practical lines. The Indian followed the buffalo for food and
pelts ; the trader followed the Indian for pelts and barter ; the pioneer
sought the trader in search of a homestead. Then came farms, vil-
lages, cities, greater marts and highways of commerce. Instinct lead
the buffalo to search out the best grazing lands and reliable water sup-
plies, as well as river crossings. Tlie requirements were abundantly
met in the Elm river and Skillet Fork flats. Wild game abounded
in the vicinity of the "drowned lands" until a recent period ; and until
within a few years the flats were extensively utilized by stockmen on
account of their rich pasturage. We mention these matters for the
purpose of calling attention to this as a "way," not entirely unknown
at the time of the Revolutionary war, although impractical in times of
overflow. General Harmar, on his way to Kaskaskia, camped on Skil-
let creek, where his Indian scouts "killed buff'alo for him." This was
probably on the direct line, as the "Trace" was much farther around.
Volney, a noted Frenchman, made the journey to Kaskaskia about
1804, if we are not mistaken, probably on this way, because it was
nearer and equally as convenient for a large portion of the year. This
course was about twenty miles south of the point where the "Trace"
crossed the Little Wabash, as the route had veered several miles to
the north at that place, in order to head off the very difficulties which
Clark encountered on this journey. The distance by way of the
"Trace" was probably a day's journey greater than by the direct
course. It is but fair to call attention to another feature which will
have a bearing on this discussion, as it will demonstrate the probable
difference in magnitude of the difficulties liable to be encountered on
either the "Trace" or Shelton's island way. At the crossing of the
"Trace" only the waters of the Wabash and Muddy, with their tribu-
taries, are met with ; while the direct route had to reckon with the
floods of the Wabash, Muddy, Elm river, Fox river. Village creek
and their tributaries combined, making possible the widespread and
deep wilderness of- waters which the army crossed under most trying
circumstances. Is it at all probable that only two of the streams on
the same day, twenty miles nearer their sources, could have furnished
"five miles" of such deep overflow as was here encountered? Let the
jury decide !
The Trace route as appears was not reinforced by such floods as
here confronted them, and yet, in order to sustain the original "assump-
tion" that the army had followed that course, it is vitally necessary to
further "assume" that the overflow on that route was equally as wide
spread and deep as described by both Clark and Bowman.
Returning to Kaskaskia, the place of beginning, we will pursue oui
course as if no digression had been made. Encouraged by further
investigations, we felt more than ever assured of the correctness of
our contentions that Clark, handicapped as he was, could not, dared
not and did not expose his army on the "Trace" and thus rashly jeopar-
dize his only hope, his all, when other and surer means were close at
hand. The very fact that George Rogers Clark, that strenuous and
sagacious man, was in sole command, should set forever at rest all
57
doubts concerning the course pursued under such circumstances. The
failure of his purposes at that critical moment involved questions of
such magnitude as to almost reach beyond the bounds of human con-
ception. Clark, advertising his plans on the "Trace" at that crucial
period, would have been a defiance of fate, a repudiation of common
prudence and a complete reversal of his well earned reputation as a
wise, safe and prudent master commander. The prize at stake, aside
from his own record and reputation which he held as priceless, was
the blasting of his hopes, the wrongs to his men, the loss of an em-
pire to his struggling country, the return of the scalping knife to the
borders and the western boundaries of his country placed at the Alle-
ghanies. Had the plan following the "Trace" even been suggested,
it is not conceivable, judging the man by his own record, and his
methods by their consequences, that George Rogers Clark would have
entertained it for a single moment. Nor did he ! For he was a silent
man ; a thinking man of foresight, who could weigh possibilities and
their outcome in the flash of a moment. Nor was the "Trace" so
much as even mentioned in connection with this expedition by any
of the writers of the period or others authorized to speak. And the
very fact of no route being mentioned should give weight to our conten-
tion, as evidence that it was their wise purpose to so veil their actions
in such secrecy as would enable a forlorn hope to snatch a crowning
victory from the grasp of despair. The direct route could not have
been named, for it was followed only as a possible "way," a case of
dire necessity.
When M. Vigo brought news that the British had recaptured Vin-
cennes, the record says : "Clark called a counsel of his officers, and it
was concluded to go and attack Governor Hamilton, for fear, if it
was let alone till spring, that he, with all the forces he could bring,
would cut us off." Brave and daring as he was, he did not hesitate
to express "fears" that the lenemy might discover his movements.
He had previously expressed "fears" that his approach might be dis-
covered on his way from Massac. It stood him in hand to be ever on
the alert and act at once ; so much so, indeed, that to have given his
antagonist notice, in any manner whatever, of his coming visit, would
have been unlike the man. Others, wath less forethought, might have
taken the open "Trace," but George Rogers Clark — never! And the
fact that he was in command should have been given due weight in
accrediting the "assumption" which exalted the old exposed route to
the dignity of a "War Trace" as entirely gratuitous. And to have
thoughtlessly presumed that he would entertain such a reckless pro-
ject would indicate that the host had not been properly reckoned with.
Orders were promptly given to dispatch his bateau, bearing forty-six
men with cannon and supplies, around by river and up the Big
Wabash to a point near the mouth of White river, to await further
instructions. From that place communication would have been more
difficult with the "Trace" than with a more southern route. Clark,
with the remainder of his force, consisting of 170 men, all told, were
early on the march. No mention is made of the course they pursued.
They seemed to just get up and go; probably on the most direct way
58
by which they could reach the enemy. They pushed their way on-
ward, encountering" difficulties that might have been avoided by a
better knowledge of the way, but they pressed bravely on. The gen-
eral course may have been known to some of the habitues of the vil-
lages, but nothing more, as the route was impractical in seasons of
overflow. But necessity was laid on Colonel Clark, and the work
marked out for him could be accomplished only by overcoming such
difficulties and obstructions as lay across his pathway. He was equal
to the occasion, as nothmg short of the impossible could safely chal-
lenge the exalted spirit and patriotic fires that burned within the soul
of this man. There was too much of the spirit and methods of both
Andrew and Stonewall Jackson in his makeup to have halted at any-
thing short of the inevitable. Time was precious and movements must
be concealed, as the issue depended upon such secrecy as would enable
him to strike hard the foe and crush him before relief could be secured.
The dangers from exposure on the "Trace" were too apparent to
have been regarded with favor. He must have entertained other plans
from the first. Nor have we a "record" of its adoption by Clark as
the "route" until long after the actors in the stirring scenes had all
passed away. Then it was, so far as known, that the "Trace" was
first cast upon the world as the course over which heroes had marched
to victory and renown. There were none to dispute it. Authors, as
well as scientists, are sometimes required to cast light upon dark
places, even if personal ingenuity has to be drawn upon for supplies.
But new and stronger lights are required to reveal the holdings of
dark caverns. The learned men of the world long taught, and pre-
tended to beUeve, that the earth rested upon the back of a huge turtle.
When coal was discovered in England, a learned chemist declared that
it would be the last thing to burn when the world should be destroyed
by fire. There are people now living who can remember when a cool-
ing drink of water was regarded as almost surely fatal to a patient
suffering from a burning fever. "Assumption" and theories were
ever rampant, and will be. Their advocates died hard, when driven to
the wall ; but, all the same, they died.
We have an "assumption" on our hands at present that will not
release its hold as easily as it was at first conceived. None would be
more highly pleased than myself, could unquestionable evidence con-
cerning the route traveled by Clark across Illinois be furnished. Until
that is done, the man, Clark, alone — were there no other reasons —
would be sufficient to cause us to cling to our doubts concerning the
"Trace" route. Nor have we any disposition to censure the worthy
gentlemen who cast this "assumption" upon the world. Some of them
personally we have long held in very high esteem. The world has
known few better men, and we are very far from wishing to cast a
reflection upon their motives ; nor would we willingly pluck a single
leaf from their many well merited laurels. With us, it is a matter
of pride to remember that we once knew them and were known by
them. Had they failed to mention a line of march, the reading public
would have criticized and complained. These men were under the
necessity of filling a gap ; a missing link, overshadowed by great
events, of which it was but a minor part.
59
In casting about for a solution of the question, it appeared natural
and easy to "conclude" that the army had marched along the "Trace,"
at that time the only recognized highway to Vincennes. Hence, the
"assumption," followed by the statement. It was generally accepted,
but not entirely satisfactory to all. Had the existence of Bowman's
Journal been known, and comparisons made from the light which it
sheds, the verdict might have been different.
The first conclusion had evidently be'en reached in a "matter of
course" sort of manner. It is very far from being a pleasant task to
call in question a statement which has so long slumbered as an ac-
cepted record ; but so firmly founded have our doubts concerning its
accuracy remained, from the time of our first reading of Clark's con-
quest and reinforced by subsequent investigations, that we now, in our
commonplace way, consent to mention our conclusions, trusting that
competent hands will press the subject to a finish. In his journal.
Captain Bowman says, "About 3 :oo o'clock we crossed the Kaskaskia
with our baggage and marched a league from town," where they
camped for the night. Nor, does he, or others, mention a "route"
by which they were to travel? As Clark was discreet in all his move-
ments, there are ample reasons for believing that in the very outset
they had started on an unmarked but direct "way" toward Vincennes,
using all possible precautions for concealing their intentions from the
enemy. No intimation is given in regard to the course they pursued,
unless the brief "notes" of Bowman can be made applicable, by com-
paring them with physical conditions as they exist across the State at
the present time. With the exception of former marshes and ponds,
which have disappeared, through drainage and cultivation, the surface
of the country remains as it was at that time. Bowman further says,
"They crossed the river at the 'Petit Fork,' upon trees that were felled
for that purpose." They were supplied with axes for emergencies, as
witnessed later on. Now, "Petit" river answers to "Little Muddy"
river, which crosses the direct line to Vincennes, but will hardly lead
far enough north to reach the "Trace." This fact is significant, as it
was encountered about the right time. Bowman (now our guide)
says that "on the eleventh of February they crossed 'Saline river.'"
Now, Saline river is confined almost exclusively to Gallatin and Saline
counties, in the extreme southeastern portion of the State ; and, even
should our contention for a southern route be admitted, the army
was at no time scarcely within thirty miles of that stream. But
this early mistake in names was not more easily made than other
similar ones, which were clearly the result of a misunderstanding in
regard to the names of streams encountered. The error is excusable,
as the existence of "Saline," a river of fair proportions, had long been
know to flow into the Ohio from a northern direction, and in this longi-
tude such streams were easily mistaken for other streams, flowing
from farther north, and finding an outlet in larger , south-flowing
streams, where their identity was lost. As little was at that time known
of the interior of southern Illinois this confusion of names is not a
cause for wonder. Instead of Saline river as supposed, the army had
6o
actually crossed the Skillet Fork river, the largest tributary of the
Little Wabash, and fully twenty miLes in a southwesterly direction
from where the line of march would make the famous crossing of the
latter stream.
The conditions mentioned by Bowman in this vicinity are fully met,
but could hardly under ordinary circumstances hav€ applied to the
"Trace" route, for they scarcely exist on that line.
The "Cot plains," as mentioned by Bowman at this point, where
they "saw and killed numbers of buffalo," could have been none other
than Arrington prairie, in Wayne county ; level and wet in an early
day, and a noted resort for these wild cattle, being adjacent to the
river valleys affording the best winter pasturage in southern Illinois.
I will digress here to state that many years ago, when investigating
this buffalo trail, several old pioneers who came to the country in
childhood, informed me that they remembered well, seeing bones in
considerable numbers scattered along this trail, leading from the
vicinity of Shelton's island westward. Among them was William
Borah (father of the new Senator from Idaho), a very bright man,
now nearly 90 years of age, and still living near Shelton's island.
Arrington prairie — as called by Bowman, "Cot plains" — answers well
all conditions mentioned on this hard day's march, which occurred the
1 2th of February, traveling unti^ late in the night. He also says,
"Now twenty-one miles to St. Vincent." (It was fully three times
as far.) We shall speak of this natural mistake later on. "13th.
Arrived early at the 'two Wabashes ;' although a league asunder, they
now made but one." "14th. Finished the canoe and put her into the
river about 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon." "15th. Ferried across the
'two Wabashes,' it being five miles in water to the opposite hills,
where we camped." "Orders not to fire any guns for the future, but
in case of necessity." Here Bowman and Clark agree in their esti-
mates, that on their line of travel the rivers are "three miles" apart,
and the "drowned lands" "five miles across," and their estimates are
remarkably accurate.
At this point, between the river channels. Clark mentions the
island, of which "about one hundred yards" was not overflowed. This,
Shelton's island, furnishes a strong land mark in favor of our conten-
tion, that may not easily be found elsewhere, unless in much larger
proportions. Flere the western branch of "the two Wabashes" was
early on the maps as "Elm river." From its banks in an early day,
flatboats loaded with produce were frequently floated to New
Orleans ; and . later, rafts of logs were floated to markets. We can
rest assured that nothing is lacking at this point to fulfill absolutely all
demands, from the meagre statements of both Clark and Bowman ;
and furthermore, it is practically on a direct line from Kaskaskia to
Vincennes. On the "15th crossed the streams," and on the "i6th,"
Bow-man says, "crossed the Fox river," which was an easily arrived
at conclusion, but none the less an error, as we shall demonstrate.
Owing to the general absence of accurate information concerning the
interior region and streams at that period, it was not generally known
that Fox river easilv falls into the Little Wabash, several miles
6i
above Sheltoii's island, and contributed its full measure in swelling the
floods at the line of crossing actually encountered by the army. Bow-
man's information was at fault, as on this journey he could not have
known the names of streams and places until informed by others. His
informants were evidently unaware that the Bon Pas, when encoun-
tered, was not a continuation of the Fox river, flowing in the same
direction from farther north. The army unquestionably crossed the
Bon Pas, instead of the Fox, supposing it to be the same stream. No
one was to be blamed for such conclusions, under the circumstances,
although they may have been misleading in a matter that is of at least
some importance in perfecting our historical records. But the fact
should not be lost sight of that more than two-thirds of a century had
elapsed after the conquest before Governor Reynolds published his
history containing the statement. True, the "assumption" has gen-
erally been followed, and to that extent tacitly endorsed by many of
the very worthy and able authors who have written on the subject.
This course was excusable, taking into consideration the fact that the
accuracy of the assumption had never been called in question. But
other instances of errors in history, which had been honestly accepted
and followed by competent writers for a much longer period, are not
wanting. It will be remembered that our standard authorities until
quite recently antedated the first permanent settlement at Kaskaskia
to the extent of eighteen years. Nor was any one seriously to be
blamed for such a mistake. The error, as in the present instance, was
quite a natural inference, followed by very probable assumption, and
then its assertion.
At our first reading of an account of Clark's campaign, we were
greatly puzzled to know why he crossed the river at Kaskaskia in
order to capture Fort Gage, when the fort was on the side from
which he had just crossed. Not having been present on that auspi-
cious occasion, and still unable to secure a satisfactory explanation,
we gave it up as inexplicable and all of the dutiful swallowing of the
incident we may have been guilty of 7vas done zfith very considerable
mental reservaiion. There are instances where errors have unwittingly
crept into records and were readily followed by writers of ability,
who, after such mistakes had been discovered and corrected, won-
dered why they should have overlooked them. Such corrections have
been accepted upon their merits ; while in the case before us the orig-
inal "assumption" per se has remain unchallenged, with the proba-
bilities of its inaccuracy almost overwhelming, for various reasons and
from different standpoints. Nor can I find a single good reason for
believing that George Rogers Clark advertised his purpose by openly
exposing his little army on the "Vincennes Trace." He was not con-
structed that way. That intrepid, sagacious and intense man was in
sole command, and with the courage of his fixed convictions. Nor did
he have to vindicate his own actions. One has wisely said : "He was
not more brave than many other men, but he thought beyond them
all." It has long been our contention that Clark and his army, reject-
ing the well known "Trace" route as utterly impracticable on account
of its publicity, on his journey from Kaskaskia to Vincennes, in Feb-
&2
ruary, 1779, marched as nearly on a direct line as possible; haste, and
especially the secrets of his movements, controlling his actions as chief
factors. He was a surveyor by profession, and it is highly probable
that he carried a pocket compass as a safe guard against confusion
in times of cloudy weather. ' In attempting to suggest a probable line
of march over which he may have passed, the task is rendered more
difficult and confusing owing to the inaccuracy of such maps as are
now in general use. We sometimes find a discrepancy of several miles
in the location of towns or places of interest, by lines drawn across
different maps from the same points. All that we can now do is to
give an approximate estimate in naming points now on or near the
probable course pursued. We regard it as not improbable that they
traveled on or near a noted buffalo trail, at least from the Skillet Fork
to the Bon Pas region, or even farther.
The army left Kaskaskia on the afternoon of February 7, crossing
the river, and at a distance of one league made their first encampment.
They probably passed near Bremen, Steelville and Percy, entering
Perry county in the vicinity of Kampenville ; passed Cutler, Barwells,
Conant and a little north of Pinckneyville ; crossed the Beaucoup river ;
thence, slightly north of Tamaroa, entered Jefferson county about
seven miles north of its southwest corner, passing Waltonville, and on
the loth crossed "Petit Fork" upon footlogs, "that were felled for that
purpose," and camped near the river. They were now south of Mt.
Vernon. In point of time and distance, this would answer to the
"Little," or, another branch of the Muddy, taken for that stream. -On
the nth, they entered Wayne county, seven or eight miles north of its
southwest corner, passed near Keene's toward Wayne City, south of
the point where they crossed the Skillet Fork of the Little Wabash
(the former having been mistaken for "Saline" river.) O71 the 12th,
they passed over Arrington prairie, (which Capt. Bowman had been
led to call "Cot Plains,") marching on between Jeffersonville and
Fairfield, and south of Martin's creek ; on the 13th, arrived early at
the "two Wabashes," on a line a little north of the junction of Elm
river with the Little Wabash; on the 14th, the men were engaged in
making a canoe and other preparations for crossing. On the 13th,
they crossed the wide and deep expanse of waters encountered there ;
"it being then five miles in water to the opposite hills where we en-
camped." They were now in Edwards county, at, or near the point
where the base line crosses the Little Wabash. On the i6th, they passed
near West Salem, then, crossed the Bon Pas river, (which had been
mistaken for "Fox" river.) iph, "Marched early and crossed several
runs, very deep," which answers to the tributaries of the Bon Pas on
that line.
They entered Lawrence county at its southwest corner, and, "about
an hour by sun, we got near the river Embarass ;" and following down,
west of that stream, after many hardships and privations ; on the 21st,
still concealed from tlie enemy, they crossed the Big Wabash near St.
Francisville. In 1889, Judge C. S. Conger of Carmi, told me that he
had recently learned from Mr. Bowman, an aged and prominent citizen
of Albion, that one of Clark's men bv the name of Truelock was a
~- ^.^ - .< /■■, .:k,-
<y7a,n ^ ^^? (;\5''2^/:-£ /^e
AT VINCENNES,.
p
63
very early settler at old Timberville, on the Big Wabash, in Wabash
county ; that he was a regular huntsman by profession, and that he
had often mentioned the vicinity where West Salem, in Edwards
county now stands, as on the route over which he had marched with
Clark's army to Vincennes, at the time of its capture. I called on
M^. Bowman shortly afterward, and he substantiated all that Judge
Conger had told me ; stating farther, that his information was directly
from a Mr. Elisha Chism-, a very old man, either a grandson or son-in-
law of Mr. Truelock, who knew him well and often hunted with him
on these expeditions to the Little Wabash in quest of large game ;
that the old soldier loved to dwell upon the scenes of that campaign,
and would point out localities over which the army had marched. He
also stated, that to the end of his life, the mention of his commander's
name would arouse in the old warrior the greatest enthusiasm. It
should not be forgotten that the woods to a practical hunter, became as
familiar as the page of an open book to a scholar. There was no con-
troversy at stake, and while I had long entertained my present views,
this incident only confirmed them. I believed the statement when I first
learned it; and I believe it still. I do not think the veracity of those
who informed me will be questioned.
64
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GENERAL JOHN EDGAR.
By James H. Roberts.
It is my pleasing duty on this occasion to endeavor to contribute
something towards rescuing from obhvion the memory of one who
in his day rendered conspicuous service to his adopted country. It
has been truly said : "Time has waged a fearful warfare on the mem-
orials of the days that tried men's souls. They lie scattered throughout
the country, and it seems a sacred duty, if possible, to gather and pre-
serve the priceless fragments. The men who laid the foundation of our
republic still live in the hearts of their countrymen, but many whose
riierits deserved a monument scarce found a tomb." These observations
apply peculiarly to General Edgar, for had it not been for an accidental
circumstance, hereinafter mentioned, it is altogether probable that the
facts touching his career would have remained concealed in the archives
of the Wisconsin Historical Society and have slumbered there in the
sleep that knows no waking.
The Romans had a maxim — "De mortuis nil nisi 'bomim" — "Of the
dead say nothing but good." While this is a very charitable sentiment,
worthy Christians as well as Pagans, it may not be the rule w-hich
should govern the biographer who writes for posterity and desires to
transmit the true likeness of his subject. While I very freely admit
that Edgar was not exempt from the infirmities and frailties common
to all men in public station, I can and do justly claim for him what
history shows him to have been — a man, of high moral character, true
patriotism and inflexible devotion to duty.
In reviewing his long and varied career I find that a committee ap-
pointed bv Congress to examine and report on the validity of claims
to lands in the territories of Indiana and Illinois, question some of
the Edgar purchases, but a committee of the Senate, of which Mr.
Burnet of Cincinnati was the chairman, in examining this report, and
the evidence on which it was based, exonerated him from all blame,
and his purchases were confirmed by Congress. Authentic contem-
porary documents show conclusively that in all his vast transactions in
land he acted with strict integrity.
A native of Belfast, Ireland, born a British subject, he early in the
great drama of the American Revolution renounced his allegiance to
his sovereign, George III, enlisted in the cause of the colonies and
fought for their independence.
GEN. JOHN EDGAR.
From an Oil Portrait owned by tlie Chicago Historical Society.
65
Before going into the history of Edgar and his times I think it not
inappropriate to state how it happens that this duty has devolved on
me — a mere dry lawyer, rather than on someone distinguished in letters,
more competent to the task, for, in view of Edgar's high character and
great services to his adopted country, it is a matter of just surprise
that no one of the writers of the history of the northwest and its
eminent men has ever undertaken to write his life. We have simply
the meagre sketch of him found in Governor Reynolds' "Life and
Times," which, though mainly correct, is very general and does not do
justice to his memory. Your intelligent and most diligent secretary,
in traversing the field so abounding in men of prominence in the history
of the northwest, with clear vision singled out this neglected man and
decided that he was eminently worthy to, and should fill a niche in
this temple of the historic muse, and knowing that I was a native of
the ancient village of Kaskaskia, which was the theatre of Edgar's
labors in his later years, was so partial as to invite me several years
since to prepare this paper, and I must say, for the last three y;ears,
in concert with your former president and present honored trustee,
the Honorable George N. Black, has pursued me with a persistence
which would take no denial.
Although familiar with his name and person, and the traditions of
him in my family, I did not known a great deal about him beyond what
is found in Governor Reynold's book, and I said to your secretary and
Mr. Black that this society and the public would derive little pleasure
or profit in hearing me thrash over the old straw of the Governor.
In acknowledgment of this gracious invitation, and understanding
that Edgar was a Scotch-Irishman, and once in the naval service of
Great Britain, I naturally turned my attention to British sources to
learn of his antecedents.
Having a slight acquaintance with our Ambassador to the Court of
St. James, I applied to Mr. Reid to put me in the way of searching for
Edgar in the British achives. He very kindly, did so, and said that
our Government, having many applications similar to mine, had em-
ployed a Mr. Stevens to examine the archives of Great Britain, France
and Spain with a view to procure what they contained touching the
early history and settlement of our country, and these were published
in some twenty volumes and were probably in our libraries. On ex-
amining them, to my surprise and disappointment, I found no mention
of Edgar. I then turned to the Canadian archives, introduced there
by your secretary, but without avail.
Then it was suggested that I make application directly to the Naval
Office of Great Britain, which I did, and I learned there that his name
could not be found on the registers from 1712 to 1779. I then con-
cluded that John Edgar, Naval Captain in the British service, was a
mvth. I applied to our secretary without success and suspecting that
search had been but partial and^ learning that he had served in some
capacity in our navv, it was suggested that I write Captain Mahan.
My letter followed him to Madrid, Spain. He politely answered me
that he did not think that Edgar was ever a captain in our navy. Not
-5 H S
66
despairing, however, 1 decided I would pursue him through the His-
torical Societies of the several states, where information would likely
be found, but received none. I had the records of marriages and
deaths in the parishes of Kaskaskia and St. Genevieve examined, in
order to ascertain the respective ages and dates of death of himself and
wife, but Edgar's name only appeared as a witness to marriages, but
as they were Protestants, these records made no mention of them ex-
cept as above. As two generations had passed since his death, I could
find no old inhabitants living in whose families lingered traditions of
him.
By the courtesy of the various persons in the several libraries of
Chicago, their books have been ransacked in vain, no whisper of Edgar,
save from our Illinois historians, Stuve, Moses and Bateman, and they
simply repeat Governor Reynolds. I presume I have written upwards
of fifty letters to different persons and societies, and have found noth-
ing satisfactory ; but some months since I was casually reading a
sketch of the life of Simon Kenton, and it then occured to me that Mr.
Lyman C. Draper, the eminent secretary of the Wisconsin Historical So-
ciety, had written me several years since that he was writing the life of
Simon Kenton, and had learned that I was in possession of a portrait
of Mrs. General Edgar; that she had befriended Kenton once when in
prison, and he desired a photograph from that portrait, as he de-
signed putting lier picture in his book. Reflecting on this letter T knew
that Kenton had been captured by the Indians, repeatedly compelled
to run the cruel gauntlet, and, almost miraculously surviving it, had
been delivered by his captors to their British allies at Detroit, and as
Edgar, after resigning from the British service, had gone to Detroit
and was involved in the escape of American prisoners, Mr. Draper
might have some knowledge of the early history of the Edgars. I.
therefore, corresponded with Dr. Thwaites, the distinguished historian
and present secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and learned
that Draper had recently died, and had not published his life of
Kenton, but left his vast collection of manuscripts to that society, and
inviting me to come up and examine them, kindly offering all assistance
in his power. After the lapse of some time, and finding it inconvenient
to go to Madison, I recently had the Kenton manuscripts examined,
which to my surprise and gratification gave an authentic acount of
Edgar's arrest, imprisonment, the confiscation of his property and hi?
subsequent escape to the colonies.
The material facts in this connection are contained in an affidavit
made by him at Albany on the 19th of December, 1781, for the use of
Governor George Clinton of New York and the Congress of the Col-
onies. This paper is so interesting, disclosing a treasonable conspiracy
of great moment to the colonies that I give it in full :
He states "that he commanded a vessel belonging to the King of
Great Britain on Lakes Huron and Erie from some time in the vear
1772 to some time in the year 1775; that he then gave up the said
command and went into trade; that on the 24th day of August, 1779.
he was taken into custody at Detroit by one Major Lernoult of the
67
Eighth, or King's regiment, charging him with corresponding with
Americans and counseHng the savages, etc., that he was put in prison
and irons and in two days sent off in irons for Niagara, where he
continued in irons for nine months, and in prison for eleven ; that he
was then sent on to Buck's Island, where he was continued in con-
finement for nine months ; that he was removed to Montreal, where he
was confined for six months, at the end of which time, after repeated
applications, he was by General McClean granted the liberty of the
town; that on the 30th of September, 1781, he was sent for by one
Thomas Johnston, who had before been taken by the British from the
lower Coos ; that on his calling on the said Johnston he told him that
he was privy to his (Edgar's) design of making his escape, and he
was desirious of sending some important intelligence to General Bailey,
and on his (Edgar's) engaging to deliver any message, said Johnston
informed him that he had not been confined since he had been brought
there ; that he was one of the persons on the part of the State of Ver-
mont, as he called it, who had been in treaty with the British touching an
agreement to deliver up that country in the hands of the British ; that
they had completed the agreement and desired him to inform General
Bailey of it, and desired to get some one to be exchanged for him on
his arrival, which he expected soon to do, on his parole, and then he
would make known the whole affair; that he (Edgar) understood that
the two Fays and Ira Allen were, with others, agents for that tract
of country called by them the state of Vermont, and that one Captain
Sherwood and one Dr. Smith who formerly lived in Albany were two
of the agents on the part of the British ; that said agents sometime^
met in Castletown, in the Grants, and sometimes in Canada ; that he
(Edgar) also understood that part of the agreement between the
British and the people calling themselves the people of the state of Ver-
mont was, that they were to raise two or three thousand men for the
British, who were to be officered by the people of the country, and
these men were to be fed, paid, clothed and otherwise supported by
the British, and that Britain was to furnish and maintain a twenty-gun
ship, which was to be kept for them upon the lake ; that since his
escape from Canada at the lower Coos he saw said Johnston at his
own house there, who had been permitted to go on his parole, but was
not then exchanged; that on his (Edgar's) coming to Coos he went
thence east to Newburyport, and to avoid coming down through the
Grants lest he should be taken up and sent back to Canada."
I will recur to the matters contained in this affidavit hereafter, but,
from it and other documents, it appears that Edgar was in sympathy
with the cause of the Colonies, and with the Earl of Chatham, Edmund
Burke and others in the British Parliament, and indeed with the great
mass of the people, condemned the course of the Government in its
war upon their countrymen in America, and it further appears that
Edgar's sympathies went so far as to lead him to aid the escape of
American prisoners at Detroit, where he was then residing.
It has been well said by one of his countrymen, that an Irishman is
68
always on one side or the other of every question of moment affecting
him, and perhaps as often on the wrong side as the right, but he is
never on the fence.
From the fact that Mr. Draper, in his letter to me, said that Mrs,
Edgar had befriended Simon Kenton while in prison, he is doubtless
one of those she assisted to escape, and in passing may I not pay a brief
tribute to this famous frontiersman and Indian fighter, Simon Kenton,
the friend and companion of Daniel Boone in his wanderings through
the then savage wilderness of Virginia and Kentucky, an associate and
trusted adviser of General George Rogers Clark in his daring and
bold capture from the British of the posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes,
thus giving this northwestern country to the United States. Clark was
one of those august characters who found empires and write their
names indellible on the scroll of history, who in majestic appearance
is said to have strikingly resembled the "father of his country."
A perusal of the materials collected by Mr. Draper disclosed that
he had found this affidavit of Edgar's in "Almon's Rembrancer," a
book published in London in 1782 also that he had examined Lavas-
seur's Life of LaFayette, Burnet's History and other works containing
mention of the Edgars, and he had also procured a letter written him
by Mr. George O. Tiffany of Milwaukee, giving his aged mother's
recollections of Mrs. General Edgar, a paper so interesting, I shall not
omit giving it entire.
Starting with the facts set forth in these Draper collections with the
assistance of the Secretary of State of New York, its librarian and
archivist, and the indefatigable labors of the ladies, especially Mrs.
Taylor, and other officials connected with the Newberry Library, that
of the Chicago Historical Society and the Chicago Public Library, all
of whom have manifested an interest and enthusiasm in the work
which I must not omit to mention, I have been able to construct a
life of Edgar which, though by no means complete, or doing him
justice, is authentic and may enable some future biographer to fill up
the intervals. I refer more particularly to his life in the British ser-
vice and while commanding an American man-of-war, of which I
have obtained but little information.
I now recur to the letter of Mr. Tiffany, giving the recollections of
his mother, then living in Milwaukee : She says, "the first Mrs. Edgar
was a native of Ireland, and came over when a child and lived in
Boston, where she married the General ; she was a widow and the
mother of four children, none of whom were living when she married
General Edgar. The date of the marriage is unknown to us. She
died in Kaskaskia in 1822, aged eighty-six. Mrs. Edgar told my
mother that Mr. Edgar was three years older than she, but the Gen-
eral when married the second time said Mrs. Edgar was older than he.
She was a small woman, blue eyes, fair complexion, quite dressy, and
wore much jewelry. She was very humane and benevolent, remark-
ably intelligent and interesting in conversation, and was at some period
of her life an inmate of General Washington's family, and very in-
timate with Mrs. Washington. She was a very pious lady, and be-
loved bv all who knew her."
MADAM RACHEL EDGAR,
First Wife of Gen. Jotin Edgar, from an Oil Portrait owned by the Chicago Historical
Society.
■ y^
69
Mr. Tiffany adds at the end of his letter that ''all this can be strictly
relied upon."
You observe from this relation by Mrs. Tiffany that Mrs. Edgar
was said at one time, not only to have been a member of General Wash-
ington's family, but very intimate with Lady Washington as she was
then called. This must have been after Edgar's escape from im-
prisonment and while in the service of the colonies, and it proves in
what esteem Edgar's services in respect to the conspiracy concerning
Vermont were held by the Commander in Chief, as well that by in-
telligence and refinement Mrs. Edgar was admitted to social relations
with his family and became a member of it. I am able to give slight
corroborative evidence of this fact, for there came from the Edgars
into the possession of my family a gold watch called and known by the
older members as the "Lady Washington watch."
The information furnished by Edgar of the conspiracy respecting
Vermont was by him first disclosed to Justices Yates and Morris at
Albany, and by them to Governor George Clinton, who deemed it of
such grave moment that he personally interviewed Edgar on the sub-
ject. He was so impressed, as he says, by the intelligence, sincerity
and bearing of Edgar, corroborated, as was his story, by that of a
fellow prisoner, that he at once called an extra session of the Legisla-
ture to take measures to save this large and important portion of the
country to the colonies, transmitting the affidavit of Edgar, recommend-
ing a personal interview with him, as he could disclose many important
facts not contained in his affidavit, and advising that the names of the
conspirators be for the present withheld from the public. These names
I obtained from the recently published Clinton papers, as they were
blank in "Almon's Remembrancer." He also sent Edgar with a letter
to the delegates in Congress from New York, that the Congress then
sitting in Philadelphia might hear his relation of the facts, and they
and the Commander in Chief devise measures to defeat the conspiracy.
In considering the proximity of the New Hampshire Grants to
Canada and the Mohawk region then under the influence of Sir William
Johnson, Chief of the Six Nations, an active and powerful enemy of
the colonies and ally of the British, the great importance of holding the
region to the American Colonies although it swarmed with active
Tories, made it of the last importance without delay to arrest the im-
pending disaster. Those measures were promptly put in motion by the
Congress and the Commander in Chief and proved successful. Con-
sider for a moment Vermont allied to the British, Maine and New
Hampshire would have inevitably gone with it and now be an integral
portion of the Dominion of Canada.
The arrest and imprisonment of Edgar seemed a providential oc-
currence in behalf of the Colonies, as it resulted in his becoming the
instrument in revealing this conspiracy to betray Vermont to the com-
mon enemy, and of saving it to the Colonies. The Congress of the
United States so regarded it, and by solemn Act passed on the seventh
of April, 1798, voted him 2,240 acres of land, saying therein, "that the
grant was made in part consideration of his losses which were great
and his services which were still greater."
70
I may not consume the valuable time of the society by reading the
various documents from the archives of New York relating to this
business, but, with others which are of interest to the elucidation of the
history of this enterprise and Edgar's connection with it, I will deposit
in the archives of the society for the use of some future historian.
When Edgar had concluded with the public authorities the business
in question he enlisted in the naval service of the American Colonies
and was given command of a man-of-war with the grade of acting
captain.
Time has not been afforded me since discovering the Draper manu-
scripts to follow his career in this relation, but it may be confidently
affirmed that his services were valuable, and so regarded, for Con-
gress in recognition of them, passed a special Act in his behalf, giving
him the pay of a captain in the navy for life.
Previous to his arrest in Detroit, Edgar had in trade acquired a
handsome fortune, which as has been observed, was confiscated by the
British authorities, but his wife, who was a person of great force of
character, remained there, and after successfully eluding the British
authorities, brought away a large sum, said to have been twelve thou-
sand dollars, which had escaped confiscation, with which and other ac-
cumulations they came in 1784 to Kaskaskia, where they resided during
the remainder of their lives. Here Edgar built, as Governor Reynolds
says, the finest mansion in the territory. It was indeed but a house of
one story in height, with dormer windows and porches extending about
it, according to the custom of the times, following the style of French
architecture that obtained in Canada and the mother country. I have
a very distinct recollection of it, having become familiar with it in my
boyhood and seen it afterward in 1842, and again in 1854, at which
latter date it was in good state of preservation.
On coming to the territory, Edgar at once engaged in trade, and
became the leading and most enterprising merchant in the territory
and state, keeping on hand large stocks of goods, suitable not only
to the local trade, but trade with the vast tribes of the Indians of the
Louisiana Purchase west of the Mississippi, selling to St. Louis traders
and those dealing in the furs of the Rocky Mountains and the wool of
New Mexico. He built flour and grist mills, shipping the product not
needed in the local market to New Orleans and other distant points ;
also engaged in the manufacture of salt, supplying the country far
and near with that article of prime necessity. The American State
papers contain grants and confirmations of the many purchases of
land made by him in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, amounting
to tens of thousands of acres. He became not only the largest private
land owner, but the wealthiest man in the Northwestern territory.
These facts not only indicate his breadth of character, but his sa-
gacity and skill in the management of his large concerns. The estima-
tion in which he was held by his fellow citizens is illustrated by the
fact that when the territory of the Northwest was organized by Gov-
ernor St. Clair, Edgar was elected, from the county of Randolph, a
member of the first Legislature, which assembled at Cincinnati, Feb-
ruary 4, 1799. Burnet, a member of the United States Senate from
71
Ohio, in his most entertaining and instructive history, says: "The
people in almost every instance selected the strongest and best men in
their respective counties." He also says that "Edgar being in Canada
when the American Revolution commenced, and being in principle a
warm and devoted Whig, embraced the cause of the colonies and cast
his lot with them."
He was also elected Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas,
or Quarter Sessions, and continued in that relation upwards of twenty-
five years, commanding the highest respect, and, though not a lawyer
by education, his high sense of justice, scholarly attainments and strong
common sense enabled him to do substantial justice between litigants,
and his judgments gave general satisfaction. I have examined some
of his official papers in possession of the Chicago Historical Society,
and the}^ indicate that he had mastered the forms of procedure accord-
ing to the course of the common law.
His experience and acquirements in naval affairs caused him to be
appointed by the United States, Major General of the Illinois Territor-
ial Militia.
He was in person tall and portly and conducted the military reviews
with much dignity of deportment.
Governor Reynolds, who personally knew him well, says : "He was
a man of liberal education, and came to the country wealthy, and
shared it with the people with unbounded hospitality. He possessed
in an eminent degree the kind and benevolent heart of an Irish gentle-
man. In his house the traveler and stranger found a hearty welcome.
Hospitality was the custom of the country, but he improved on it. With
all his wealth and influence, he was kind and benevolent to the poor."
Among the honors bestowed on him by his adopted state, was the
naming of a county for him, which is now one of the richest and most
flourishing in the State.
Having brought before you a true pen picture, as I believe, of Gen-
eral Edgar and his first wife, Madam Rachel, I must say a word of him
after her death in the month of July, 1822, and I premise by observmg
that among the early American settlers of Kaskaskia was William
Stevens, who with his family came there from Norfolk, Virginia.
A suitable time after the death of his wife having elapsed, the Gen-
eral became a suitor for the hand of Mr. Steven's oldest daughter.
Martha Eliza, then about fifteen years of age. The parents regarded it as
a very eligible match, the General being a man of large wealth and
great distinction, so she was affianced to him. At this time the bride
was well grown, tall, slender and graceful, full of vivacity, and a
leader in all the romps of the young people of Kaskaskia, but, after
her marriage, sober, discreet and matronly. For about seven years
they lived most happily together, she making him a loving and ex-
emplary wife. He was very proud and fond of her, and left her his
entire fortune which was large.
Among the adventurers emigrating to the new state was a young
man from Knoxville, Tennessee, named Nathaniel Paschall, by voca-
tion a printer, and then employed on the newspaper formerly owned
and edited bv Daniel P. Cook, "The Illinois Intelligencer." In social
72
gatherings of the young people, he and Miss Stevens frequently met,
and, very naturally, his heart yielded to her youthful charms, but as
he was a penniless boy, his fortune yet to be made, the parents of the
young lady were not long in deciding that the General was the more
eligible suitor. St. Louis was at this time becoming a prosperous city,
offering great inducements to industrious and energetic persons in
all branches of business. Paschall at once decided to leave Kaskaskia
and cast his lot there, and shortly found employment in the ofifice of
"The Missouri Republican," now "The Republic." In the course of
time he became one of the proprietors, and its chief editor, and was
known as a political writer of consummate ability. He made it the
leading organ of the Whig party in the west until its dissolution and
ultimate absorption by the Republican party, when the paper became,
and has ever since remained. Democratic.
After the death of General Edgar in December, 1830, and the lapse
of a reasonable time, Mr. Paschall, now established in successful bus
iness, renewed his suit and was accepted by the young widow, in whose
heart there doubtless lingered during the years of her wedded life a
tender recollection of her youthful lover. My mother, being some years
the senior and near friend of the young widow, was made a confidante,
and, to avoid any unfriendly criticism, it was arranged that the mar-
riage of the Paschalls should take place at the residence of Mr. James
L. Lamb, a brother of my mother, at this place, Springfield, Mr. Lamb
having moved here the previous year. He was coming to Kaskaskia
in the fall, and on his return to Springfield Mrs. Edgar went there
under his charge. I, a boy not quite seven years old, rode with them
on a stool at their feet, having been sent up a few weeks before the
family moved, to go to school with my cousin John Lamb. On arriving
at what is now Illinoistown, at a tavern then kept by a man named
Short, Mr. Lamb crossed over on the Wiggin's Ferry to St. Louis, and
shortly after Mr. Paschall made his appearance. I do not remember
the meeting between the lovers, was probably not present, and there
for leave to your imaginations to fill up the void, but I do distinctly
remember, as I frequently passed in and out of the room, that they
sat at a respectable distance from each other, conversing. He, as
his son writes me, was a quiet, taciturn man, and probably not very
demonstrative in his love making, being then twenty-eight years old
and the lady twenty-four. In a few hours Mr. Lamb returned from
St. Louis, Mr. Paschall crossed over and we resumed our journey to
Springfield.
My recollection is very distinct that the Short Tavern was the onlv
house in the neighborhood, though, of course, I may be mistaken. Illi-
noistown is now a flourishing city, although I have not been in that
vicinity for more than fifty years.
My father and mother came up from Kaskaskia to the wedding,
which occurred on the 27th of November, 1832, upwards of seventy-
four years since. The Reverend John I. Bergen was the officiating
minister then in charge of the Presbyterian Church, whose daughter
Catherine, now Mrs. Edward Jones, a venerable lady, upwards of
ninety years old, and alert in mind and memory, was present on the
GEN. JOHN EDGAR'S HOUSE AT KASKASKIA, WHERE
LAFAYETTE WAS ENTERTAINED.
73
occasion, having a vivid recollection of it, and having given me a very
interesting account of the wedding and the appearance and deportment
of the bride and groom and of the French plays new to the guests, in-
troduced by the bride for the amusement of the younger persons pres-
ent, which created much merriment. She and I are the only persons
now living who were present on the occasion.
The young bride very naturally presuming that Mr. Paschall would
not wish to adorn the walls of his home with the portraits of General
and Mrs. Rachel Edgar, presented them to our family, and they now
hang on the walls of the Chicago Historical Society.
I should not omit to mention an event which occurred during the
life time of General Edgar that marked an era in the history of the
ancient village, no less than a visit from the Marquis de LaFayette in
the month of April, 1825. On this occasion he was the guest of Gen-
eral Edgar, and it is said they met as old friends, and it is quite prob-
able that they saw each other frequently at the table of General Wash-
ington. Lavasseur says that General Edgar ordered all the doors of
his mansion thrown open, that the eager people might feast their eyes
on the nation's guest. A great dinner was served in his honor at
Sweet's hotel. My aunt, Mrs. Mather, informed me that this hastily
improvised entertainment was provided by the patriotic ladies of the
town, as well as the floral decorations, which were not unworthy of
the occasion. LaFayette came unexpectedly and was unheralded. Our
then Governor, Coles, who was with him at St. Louis, there arranged
that the boat on which he was going to Nashville, Tennessee, should
stop at the Kaskaskia Landing on the Mississippi river. A ball was
given at night at the large stone house of Colonel William Morrison,
at which Mrs. Mather was present. She drank wine with LaFayette,
and in my family are preserved the satin slippers worn by her on this
occasion and the white kid gloves stained with wine.
Lavasseur mentions the incident of the visit of the Indian girl whose
father fought under LaFayette during the Revolutionary War, and to
whom he gave a certificate of his fidelity to the American cause that
had been sacredly preserved, and there exhibited and recognized by
him. Mrs. Mather remembered the event, and that the girl was known
to the people as Mary, the daughter of Chief Louis Du Quoin, for
whom DuQuoin, the county town of Perry county, is named. It is
worthy of commendation and now the fashion to preserve in our towns
and counties the names not only of the great Indian warriors, but as
well the French explorers and Jesuit missionaries whose zeal led them
into the wilderness of the Northwest and opened the way to its civ-
ilization.
I close this paper with the confession that in its hurried preparation,
while collecting the materials for it, down to the last moment, I have
done scant justice to the memory of this eminent man, but submit it
asking for it your charitable criticism.
74
THE ILLINOIS EARTHQUAKE OF 1811 AND 1812.
By Daniel Berry.
When I came to Southern Ilhnois in the winter of 1857 and 1858,
I found that the old people, with whom I became acquainted, had three
very interesting topics to talk about, when I asked them about the
early times. To mention these topics according to the order in which
the narrators were impressed by them, would be, first:
"When the stars fell," as they expressed it. This occurred in No-
vember, 1833. The most impressive incident I heard of, with respect
to the falling stars, was told me by Mrs. Wilson, wife of Supreme
Judge Wm. Wilson, Tumbling down moons might have frightened
that woman, falling stars certainly did not scare her. I have heard her
say that she washed her hands and face with the stars, as though they
had been snow flakes. She carried her baby out to see the sight and
saw the stars fall on the baby's face and wiped them off.
The event of next importance was the "Harraken" as they called it.
This was a terrific cyclone that swept over Southern Illinois and In-
diana clear into Ohio. It happened on the evening of the 18th day
of June, 181 5, the day of Waterloo. It left a track of broken, twisted,
tangled, fallen timber nearly a mile wide through White county.
The talk about the prime event — the old time earthquake — was
mostly traditional. Very few of the narrators were living in Illinois
then ; in fact, few of them were born before the time of its occurrence.
At the time of the "great shakes," as the event was called, the Territory
of Illinois did not have five thousand people, not counting the Indians.
I have met but two people who had had any personal experience
with the earthquake. These were Mr. Yearby Land and his mother.
Mr. Land, when I first knew him, was about fifty-seven years old, and
his mother was nearly ninety. His father Robert Land came to the
Territory from South Carolina, and found a home place in what was
then, the northern half of Gallatin county, and his family was one of
the only six families in that part of Gallatin, at that time, 1809. The
3d Principal Meridian had just been run. The government survev of
the country — where Carmi and Hawthorne Townships now are — had
just been done by Arthur Henrie under contract with Jared Mansfield,
Surveyor General of the United States. The land office at Shawnee-
town was not established until 181 2.
* The latter part of this paper, which dealt with the possibility of a future recurrence of
earthquakes, has been omitted, since the subject matter was not strictly historical.
75
At the time of the earthquake, in November, 1811, Mr. Land was a
boy past nine years old ; but the happening of that four or five months
shaking made an impression on his mind that was clear and bright
when he was ninety years old. He said the ground wo\ild shake and
then rock and roll in long waves. After a short quiet spell, there
would be another shock and roll.
His father had a clearing in the woods and just on the south edge
of what is known as Big Prairie. In this woodland, extending south-
ward to the hills on the Little Wabash, were white oak trees of won-
drous size. There was rarely any undergrowth. This primeval forest
was like a well kept park. I remember those trees.
When I came to White county, nearly all the produce of the country
went by flatboat to New Orleans. These flatboats were as long as a
tree could be found to make them. The sides, or gunwales, "gunnels,"
they were called — single pieces of timber two feet or more, deep and
six inches thick. Many a tree could be found that would yield a log
ninety-five feet long, which would first be hewed into a stick two feet
wide and a foot thick, throughout its entire length. This would be
split with the old fashioned whip saw, making two "gunnels" ninety-
five feet long, two feet wide and six inches thick.
I mention this timber to give point to Mr. Land's narrative. He said
in these long continued rollings, the tall timber would weave their tops
together, interlock their branches, then part and fly back the other
way, and when they did this "the blossom ends of the limbs would pop
like whip lashes ; and the ground was covered with broken stuflf."
In the prairie, about two miles east of his father's house, a big crack
was made in the ground, and you could not see to the bottom of it. The
ground on the south of the creek sunk down about two feet. "This
crack" was on the land afterward owned by Mr. Jacob Parker on
the N. W .Qr. of Sec. 35, T. 5, S. R. 10 E. 3d p. m.
It was well defined when I first saw the place in 1858. Across a
field that sloped slightly upward to the north, was a well marked line
of uplift of downfall. The lower side to the south. This line extended
east and west. It started on some high ground, west of the field, ex-
tended eastward through the woodland and was lost in some swamp
land further on. It could be traced about two miles. The field was in
cultivation for wheat when I first saw it, and the slope of the uplift,
or northern side, was about six feet long, as it had been worked down
in cultivation.
South and eastward from this farm was a wide extent of low, flat,
untimbered land, extending to the Marshall Hills, on the Big Wabash,
eastward, and nearly to the Little Wabash southward. In those days
this land was not overflowed by the Big Wabash. It was covered by
a verdurous growth of grasses and was a splendid summer and winter
range, or pasture for horses, cattle and swine.
There were many square miles of this level plain, and over it, in
the earthquake time, piles and piles of pure, snow white sand were
heaved up. In the words of Uncle Yearby Land, as we called him,
these piles "were from the size of a bee-gum to three or four wagon
loads."
76
To understand this, you will have to know what a "bee-gum" was.
It was a section about twenty inches long, cut from a hollow gum
log about fourteen or eighteen inches in diameter. It was placed,
with many others of its kind, open end down on a raised platform of
split logs. The top end was closed in with riven clapboards weighted
down with stones ; or pinned down with wooden pegs. In these, vast
swarms of bees, unvexed by moth or other enemy of civiHzation, stored
their honey, which was a splendid substitute for the sugar and mo-
lasses of later times.
This sand was so white and clean that, in the words of Mr. Land,
"it would not stain or soil the whitest linen." These piles of sand
showed us evidence of water. The sand remained in piles until
washed down by succeeding rains.
In this shaking and rolling of the earth, from November until the
following March, no buildings were damaged and only one person hurt.
In reply to my inquiry of old Mrs. Land, the widow of Mr.
Robert Land, as to personal injury of the people, she "minded" of
only one. "That was a Williams girl, who had her feet badly burned
by a skillet lid, loaded with hot embers, tumbling off the skillet and
pouring the live coals on her bare feet. She was burnt scan'al-us."
I asked about the houses ; if they did not fall down. "I never
heard of any that was hurt," replied Mr. Land. It took me a long
time to make these contradictory stories of the instability of the
ground and the stability of the houses fit each other.
It appears simple enough when we understand the sort of houses
they were — mere pens about fifteen feet square and seven feet high,
built of small logs, that one or two men could handle. The pen was
built up in such fashion that the logs were fitted in dove-tailed joints
at the corners. The gable ends were raised in the same fashion,
except that each log was held in place by a "long log" that was to
support the roof. These "long logs" were long enough to project over
the end of the cabin, so as to have the stick and mud chimney under
the roof. To cover the cabin, riven clapboards, long enough to "reach
and lap" from one log to another, were laid double, so as to "break
jints," and held in place by weight poles placed directly over and
parallel with the "long logs." The weight poles were also long enough
to reach beyond the clapboards, so as to be tied down to the "long
logs" with hickory withes.
When the cabin was so raised and kivered, an opening was made
on one side for a door and in one end for a "chimbley," as a chimney
was called then. This opening was about six feet wide ; and in it was
built, on the ground, a six feet square pen, about a foot deep, one-half
in the cabin for the hearth, the other half outside for the base of the
chimney. This pen was filled with wet clay, pounded down hard.
The chimney was built up with a network of split white oak sticks
and clay. The sticks lapped at the corners, and as it was built up the
sticks were forced down into the soft mortar-like clay and another
layer of clay placed upon them, the layers not being more than two
inches apart. The walls of the chimney were more than a foot thick.
The 07'er-hang of the cabin roof protected the chimney from the
weather. The floor of the cabin was of split logs, called puncheons.
71
In the building of this old time mansion, not a bit of iron entered
into its construction ; not a nail was used. From this you will see
that it was an* ideal structure to endure and resist the shock, shake or
twist of an earthquake. Built like a basket, it was just as flexible and
yielding to all the whims of the unlooked for visitor.
The house of Mr. Robert Land was of a different pattern. This
was a block house, or fort, built to resist attack from the Indians, And,
by the way, it was in this house that the first Methodist church in Illi-
nois was estabhshed in 1812. John C. Slocumb was the preacher; and
he was also the first county judge in 1816, with Willis Hargrave
and Joseph Pomeroy, associates. The old house was standing when I
came to the county. Nothing marks the spot now but the old well. It
was built on the northeast corner of the south half of the northwest
quarter of section 33, town 5 south, range 10 east of the third princi-
pal meridian. The place is now a wheat field.
The houses of Mr. Land's neighbors were of the kind I have men-
tioned. But this was "in the country." In the towns it was different.
There were some pretentious buildings in Shawneetown, but not many.
Fearon, in his sketches says there were only about thirty in 18 17.
Some of them had stone chimneys. These were tumbled down.
My friend, Mr. Charles Carroll of Shawneetown, tells me that he
remembers Mrs. Eddy the wife of Judge Eddy, relating what she
heard her mother say about the terror stricken people of Shawnee-
town ; "'how they ran out of their homes into the road, and how the
chimneys fell down."
Mr. Harvey Crozier of Carmi has a scrap of family history relating
to the earthquake. His great grandfather, Mr. John Cochran, was a
friend of Daniel Boone, and started from Kentucky to join his friend
Boone in Missouri. Near Kaskaskia he found a country that suited
him and determined to settle there. This was in 181 1. He opened up
a clearing, and the day before the earthquake he had a house raising,
where men and women for miles around gathered in to raise the house
and partake of the feast and enjoy the dancing frolic that succeeded.
The house was to be a double log cabin ; that is, two square pens, sep-
arated by a wide entry way, and all covered by one roof. To support
the roof, two square logs long enough to extend over the two pens
and entry way, and over the outer ends of the pens so as to cover
in the two chimneys that were to be built at the outer end of each pen
were in place when the workmen quit at sundown, November 16, 181 1,
The earthquake came that night. In the morning the roof plates
of the new house had been shaken down and part of the top logs of
the pens were on the ground. In the camp near the new cabin was a
line, to hang things on, stretched between two trees ; and on this line
hung a cow bell, which rang at intervals for many days.
Mr. Wesley McCallister's story. He says: "My grandfather,
Edward McCallister, came from Ireland when a small boy ; grew up
in Virginia and served as a soldier through the Revolutionary war;
was in the battle of the Cowpens with General Morgan. After the
war he married Miss DeHart, a French Huguenot, and settled in
Kentuckv. In 1810 he came to Illinois territory. At this time he
78
had eight children, my father being one of the youngest. He came
down the Green and Ohio rivers and up the Wabash river in a
pirouque, landing at Cadd's ferry, where Marshall's fercy is now. He
built a cabin and was living there at the time of the earthquake. My
father was a child about 4 years old, and remembers his mother gath-
ering up the children and taking them to the pirouque ; saying that if
the earth sank, they would be safer on the water, but she soon found
that the water was not as safe as the land and came ashore. All the
stock was very much disturbed and frightened ; horses nickering, cattle
lowing, hogs squealing, and all the stock on the range running to the
house."
All the stories agree in this particular, about the fright of the domes-
tic animals, and how they came running home for protection and
comfort.
These shakings and wave-like movements of the ground continued
. fromi November until the following March. But, according to Mr.
Land's statement, the first shocks and rollings were the most severe.
These finally subsided into one continuous tremble of the earth. He
said the water in his father's well was never still for more than two
years.
These Illinois phenomena were only outlying symptoms of the grand
convulsion near New Madrid, Missouri, where hundreds of square
miles of land sank in the St. Francis river country, in Missouri and
Arkansas ; and where many square miles of heavily timbered high
land sank in western Tennessee where Obion and Reelfoot lakes are
now.
All these stories have only a sort of curious traditional value to the
dwellers in the land today. At that time there were very few people
in the country. But suppose another visitation of the same sort should
come today, tomorrow or next year. Do you not know that it would be
an untold horror.?
THE MAEQUIS de LA FAYETTE.
79
THE VISIT OF THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE TO
ILLINOIS IN 1825.
By Mrs. Ellen M. Henrolin.
It is impossible to divine the reason why the world loves one great
man or why another is not loved. Human nature is so perverse that it
places the halo of romance around the person of one man and denies
it to another for reasons which are apparently inexplicable. Popu-
larity is illusive — here today and there tomorrow ; and many of the
great ones of history, who have accomplished the most for the true
uplifting of humanity ; who have led lives of devotion to the highest
ideals, have yet, while winning the respect, almost the veneration of
the world, failed to win its love or impress its imagination, while often
some lesser heroes are the recipients of a romantic affection, legends
woven about their names, even though their personal character has not
warranted the crowns they wear. Woman as a factor in creating or
destroying historical reputations has in the past not been taken into
account, and yet it is not too much to claim that every hero of his-
torical romance, if such a term is admissible, owes his never dying
reputation to the love of some one or of many women. It is no ques-
tion of race or temperament. Perhaps the two most striking exam-
ples are Napoleon and Washington. The latter is loved and venerated
by the whole world, and yet he seems powerless to impress the imagin-
ation. Around his name future generations will weave no legends ;
the rosy light of romance, often so illusive, will not be shed about his
life. Madame Washington, admirable as she was, was not a figure
to impress the fancy of men or women. She was too prosperous, too
reasonable ; and her lack of temperament throws a certain grey veil
over the picture of the father of his country.
About the name of Napoleon, on the contrary, the great king killer,
has clustered numberless legends. Though his life was short, though
he died unhonored, all that he said and did interests the world today
as much as it did the men and women of his ov»^n time. He is a
mystery and stands out almost superhuman in strength. While he
lived, mothers frightened their children with threats of his coming:
men and women died for him ; law, art and literature still bear
the stamp of his iron will and short life. Even today, the coming of
the violets in spring whisper to certain Frenchmen, "He will come
again." Josephine, gracious, tender and unhappy, is a name to con-
8o,
jure with and stands at the door of imagination to add her charm to
his mystery.
Gilbert Motier de Lafayette had the good fortune to be loved alike
by men and women, for he was born into an age of romance. He
played a fine role in what Carlyle calls the great events of the modern
world — the French revolution and the American war of independence.
He was born in 1757 and was a posthumous child. His family was
noble, wealthy and celebrated. He was one of the queen's pages, a
position greatly coveted by the noble lads of France and thus was
trained in all courtly graces. At 16 he was married to a beautiful
and clever child — she was nothing more — the Countess Anastasie de
Noailles, daughter of the duke of that name, who himself played no
unimportant part in the French revolution.
When the marquis came the first time to America, in 1775, he was
very young. He came in the train of Count d'Estaing, and he at once
won all hearts, even that of General Washington, who did not lightly
bestow his affection, by his tact, simplicity and sympathy. All France
was at that time in the first white heat of passion for liberty. The
shrewd and tactful Franklin in Paris was perfecting a treaty of com-
merce and a defense alliance between France and the young republic.
Lafayette, with the land army, and the Count de Grasse on the sea,
were fighting the battles of "the insurgents," as the Americans were
then called. In his charming memoirs, Lafayette writes of his experi-
ence at that time. "My heart was enlisted," and these simple words
were the explanation of his immense and immediate popularity. In
1783, when the treaty of peace was signed between England and the
states, which assured the independence of the latter, the French re-
turned home. But the triumph of the young republic gave an im-
mense impetus to the cause of liberty in France ; and it was natural that
Lafayette, the hero of the American war, should come to the front
in his own land for the same cause. By 1789, when the States General
met, Lafayette and many others of the great French nobles had joined
the moderate reform party, he never changed in his allegiance and
advocated the principles of that party with singular resolution and
simplicity. Events went rapidly in those days, "for what the centuries
should have done was now to be the work of a day." Mirabeau fur-
ther wrote of the assembly : "It has contracted the habit of acting
in the same way as do the people it represents, by deeds which are
always abrupt, always passionate and always precipitate. "Into this
turbulent world the courteous, high-minded Lafayette was to be an
actor, now popular with the people and the court ; now suspected and
out of favor with both. One of the most interesting features of his
life was the frequency with which he became, by a sort of natural
selection, a leader of processions. Beyond doubt the most dramatic
episode was when he led the women's insurrection to interview the
king at Versailles in October of 1789, riding at the head of an army,
or rather a mob, of 30,000, seated on his white horse and haranguing
eloquently, but vainly, all the weary way from Paris, and ofTering, as
8 1
Carlyle says, "in his high flown, chivalrous way," his head for his
majesty's safety. If his ride to Versailles at the head of his women
warriors was a mad venture, surely no more reassuring was his re-
turn, riding beside the king's carriage.
To tell of the subsequent dramatic situations of his life is not pos-
sible in a short article. Fifty years elapsed between his first and second
visits to the United States. His secretary, Lavasseur, has w^ritten a
truly charming narrative of the marquis' visit in 1825-26. In the
foreword Lavasseur writes "that he gives the details of a triumph
which honors as well the nation which bestowed it as the man who
received it ;" and in the moralizing fashion of that day, which dearly
loved to point a moral, he adds : "That the enthusiasm of the Ameri-
cans for Lafayiette was an encouragement to endeavor to procure
rational liberty for all mankind." Lafayette is thus described in "My
Own Times," by John Reynolds, who was with him at St. Louis : "He
was six feet tall, slender, with a florid complexion. Age had bent his
form, but he was gay and cheerful. His lameness only, added to the
dignity of his bearing. He spoke English with perfect ease and
fluency. A delicate and refined sensibility reigned in his character;
chivalry and honor had a resting place in his heart."
He had long desired to revisit America. Finally, in 1824, it was
possible for him to so arrange his plans that he could accept the
invitation of Congress tendered him by President James Monroe. Thq
Congress of the United States wished to send a ship of war to bring
him across the Atlantic, but this courtesy was declined by Lafayette,
and with his son, George Washington, and his secretary, Lavasseur,
he embarked at Havre, the 13th of July, and arrived in New York
the 1 6th of August. The party crossed in a merchant vessel, called
the Cadmus. From the hour he landed in New York, his journey
was one series of public triumphs: and it was significant of the affec-
tion of the people for him that the bands always played the old French
song, "On pent ou etre mieux qu'an sein de sa famille."
Governor Coles of Illinois, a remarkable and notable man, had made
Lafayette's acquaintance when in Paris in 18 17. As soon as the Gen-
eral landed in New York he received an urgent invitation from the
Governor to visit Illinois, then a pioneer State — whose Legislature also
sent by the Governor an equall}^ urgent invitation, and appropriated
$6,475.00 for his entertainment — almost one-third of the tax receipts
of the year. Lafayette accepted the invitation and came up the Mis-
sissippi from New Orleans in the steamboat Natchez, which was gaily
decorated for the occasion. Lavasseur writes : "That since the appli-
cation of steam to navigation great changes have been thereby pro-
duced in the relations of the Mississippi towns. The trip from New
Orleans to St. Louis was made in the short time of ten days." At
Carondelet, Lafayette was met by Governor Clark of Missouri, Gov-
ernor Coles of Illinois and Colonel Benton of St. Louis, in which city
the party visited the wonderful Indian collection of Captain Clark, of
Lewis and Clark fame. Early in the morning of the 17th the Natchez
sailed away — or rather, steamed away — with Lafayette and Governor
— 6 H' S
82
Coles, and about noon arrived at Kaskaskia then a large trading town.
The party evidently arrived before the preparations were complete for
their reception, for no carriages awaited at the wharf ; but soon an
open carriage came driving up, and the Governor and Lafayette drove
to the residence of Colonel Edgar, an old revolutionary soldier.
The arrangements of Lafayette's visit by the townspeople seemed to
have been very informal, but the warmth and sincerity of the wel-
come made up for what was lacking in formality. At Colonel Edgar's
a reception was held. The colonel ordered all the doors and windows
of his residence left open, that the citizens might have a good view of
the distinguished guest.
In 1875 an historical atlas of Randolph county was published, a
copy of which is in the Chicago Historical Society. On page 67 is a
picture of the Edgar house. It was built in the bungalow style, with
a steep sloping roof, and surrounded on three sides by a wide veranda,
the roof of which was supported by cedar posts. In the Chicago His-
torical Society is a cane made from one of these posts. The picture
represents a spacious, comfortable dwelling. On the same page is
the house in 1874 in ruins, only the posts left standing. The Gov-
ernor, .from the steps of Colonel Edgar's residence, made a speech of
welcome ; and Lavasseur notes the respect and affection of the citizens
for him. The facts were quite otherwise, for Governor Coles was the
least popular of all who ever occupied the executive chair. Rey-
nolds, in his book, "My Own Times," writes that Governor Coles was
a bachelor, and thus without social standing and influence. He was
blunt and overbearing and antagonized the federal government and
the Illinois Legislature. Later he was actually persecuted by his ene-
mies, and in 1832 he shook off the dust of Illinois from his feet, went
to Philadelphia to reside, married, and there lived an honored and
prosperous citizen. Lafayette replied to the Governor's speech in his
usual happy manner.
Lavasseur was much interested in the motley character of the towns-
people — American, French, Canadians and Indians ; the latter "tall and
unmoved," standing on the outskirts of the crowd. At the time of
Lafayette's visit the Indians came every year to Kaskaskia to sell
their furs. Lavasseur seems to have held a reception of the French
Canadians on his own account. He writes of their admiration for
"la belle France," but found them absolutely ignorant of the conditions
prevailing there. One man asked if there was not a great French
general named Napoleon. Lavasseur did his best to explain Napo-
leon, a problem with which all the world has since been occupied.
Like many another instructor, he was confused by the deductions
drawn by his hearers from his explanations, who could not understand
why the French submitted to emperors and kings, instead of establish-
ing a republic "like this."
Lavasseur was more interested in the Indians than the citizens, and
in the afternoon he visited their encampment. He quaintly writes :
"That it was easy to distinguish the place in the tents occupied by
the women by the little articles of their toilets, as combs, looking glasses
and small bags of paint for their faces," The citizens had prepared a
Si.
%-
W 2
\4 a
83
banquet at the tavern, then kept by Colonel Sweet. "The ladies of
the place had with much taste and propriety" decorated the hall with
laurel, and a beautiful rainbow of roses and flowers spanned the table
around which were seated the honored guests. Mrs. Ballard of
Chester writes : "I have been many times in the room where the
banquet was held in Old Kaskaskia hotel. It was a large square
room." The toasts proposed were: By Lafayette, "Kaskaskia and
Illinois ; may their joint prosperity more and more evince the blessing
of congenial industry and freedom." Governor Coles: "To the in-
mates of La Grange; let them not be anxious, for though their father
is one thousand miles in the interior of America, he is yet in the midst
of his affectionate children." Lafayette's son: "The grateful confi-
dence of my father's children and grandchildren in the kindness of his
American family." Governor Bond's toast : "General Lafayette ;
may he live to see that liberty established in his own land which he
helped to establish in his adopted country." Judge Sidney Breese also
gave a toast.
In the evening a large ball was given at the stone mansion of Wil-
liam Morrison, one of the most distinguished citizens and a prosperous
and well known merchant throughout the Mississippi valley. The
general opened the ball with Miss Algie Maxwell. Such an impression
was created by this function that the women who were honored by
an invitation preserved as souvenirs the slippers in which they danced
and their fans, on which was a picture of the general.
At midnight Lafayette took leave of his hosts and took a steamer,
chartered by the State, for Nashville. On the return trip. May ii,
he stopped for a day at Shawneetown, where a salute of twenty-four
rounds was fired in his honor. The people of the surrounding country
turned out en masse to welcome him and drew up on each side of the
road from Rawling's tavern to the wharf, standing in two lines through
which he passed to the tavern, where a dinner was served. There
were the usual speeches, the welcome being given by Judge James
Hall. After spending several hours at the dinner in conversation with
his hosts, the general was conducted with great ceremony to the
steamer, when he took leave of Governor Coles and continued his trip.
Shawneetown was until ten years ago not greatly changed — the Wil-
liam Morrison home, large and commodius, still stands — for the rail-
road passed by the town and left it in a forgotten corner. John Eddy's
house still stands, as does the shop in which was published the first
newspaper in Illinois, a complete file of which was owned by the
Chicago Historical Society and destroyed in the Chicago fire. Eben
Mack writes: "The ladies of Illinois scattered roses in the path of
Lafayette. As was the finale of all these entertainments, the gay and
the grave, the lively and severe were harmoniously- "united. The
younger classes, the females, beauty and vivacity were thus enabled
to welcome the nation's guest and to manifest their joy at beholding
among them the hero, whose history was to them a romance of chiv-
alry; — the champion, who came from a foreign land to rescue their
fathers and mothers from bondage, and had visited America, after a
long absence, to behold the fruits of his toil and sacrifices." To these
vivid manifestations Lafayette gracefuly submitted. He was afifable
in manner, familiar in conversation and felt himself at home under
all circumstances. On these occasions and throughout the declining
period of his life he enforced by example the precept of the Christian
philosopher: "Let not the stricken in years forget that they were
once young." Thus woman, in the final analysis, is the arbiter of
Lafayette's fame. Her verdict stands. The hero she elects to crown
with garlands wears them to the world's end, to the end of time. If
she treasures the slippers in which she danced with him, the fan with
which she cooled her cheeks heated by enthusiasm for him, her father,
husband, sons and grandsons accept her verdict and help her to place
on his brow the crown of romance, which is synonymous with immor-
tality.
8$
THE INTEGRAL PHALANX.
By George E. Dawson.
It was, of course, an irreverent Frenchman who said, "They say
God made the world in six days, and it must be so, for there remains
yet so much to be done."
And in truth there does seem to be much that is incomplete in the
world as we find it, much in the conditions surrounding human beings
in the present state of society that calls for explanation.
Why are the factors which go to secure the happiness of the most
favored individual so inadequate, and why do they reach, even imper-
fectly, so few of the great numbers of earth's inhabitants ?
These questions in substance hav£ often been asked. They have
always been variously answered by the representatives of the religious
sects, by philosophers and by men of science.
No one has more keenly felt the wrongs, inequalities and wasteful-
ness of much that is connected with the institution of society as at
present existing, and as it has existed for the past century, than Charles
Fourier. Nor has any writer been enabled to represent them more
acutely nor in more burning words.
Charles Fourier was born in Bensangon, Franche Conte, in 1772, He
was fairly well educated, and, at the death of his parents, became
possessed of a comfortable fortune for that time, which, however, he
lost at the time of the revolution, barely escaping those troublous times
with his life.
His first work "Les quatres mouvements' 'attracted little attention.
It was published in 1801. It contained essentially all of his peculiar
theories, the announcement of his great discoverey, as he calls it, which
was afterwards amplified and extended to several volumes constituting
"Traite de I'unite universelle." ~ - , " . "-
It is not our purpose to follow the slow growth of his teachings.
It is enough to say that his theories secured little public attention until
Victor Considerant-and others took up the subject and through lectures
and writings made them more fully known. ■ - ■ ^
His little band of disciples were most active in propagatmg his doc-
trines from about 1832 to 1845.
Fourier considered himself greater than Newton. Newton discov-
ered the laws of attraction of the physical universe ; he discovered the
great principle of passional attraction. Perfect harmony exists among
the planets and heavenly bodies. Harmony would also exist among
86
the peoples of the earth were it not for the foolish restrictions put
upon the relations of men with one another, brought about by a false
conception of their social state.
His definition of happiness is attractive. "Happiness" he says, "con-
sists in the possession of a vast number of desires combined with a full
opportunity of satisfying- them all."
The passions with Fourier meant all the desires which move to
human action. These he classes as sensuous, those which obtain grati-
fication through the five senses ; the moral affections, which include
friendship, love, paternity and ambition ; and the intellectual impulses.
These passions, if unrestrained, would act harmoniously, would fur-
nish their own correctives. There would be no excesses.
Fourier's idea of social reconstruction was more democratic than
that of St. Simon or of Robert Owen. Owen wanted the government
to adopt his views and make people happy, clean and industrious by
strength of paternalism in its control of their lives and surroundings.
St. Simon would have the world ruled for its own good by an auto-
cracy of talent. Fourier, however, wished to provide for the mere
democratic mingling of all classes in huge apartment buildings capable
of containing i,8oo persons. These were by no means to be herded
together indiscriminately, but families were to occupy apartments large
or small as necessity demanded. These were to be heated at the common
expense, to be provided with a common kitchen and laundry sufficient
to provide for the entire phalansterere or common dwelling house.
Indeed Fourier, nearly a hundred years ago, seems to have dreamed
of a large co-operative apartment house where all the drudgery of the
household should be carried on on a large scale much the same thing
that is aimed at by the advanced apartment landlord of the present day.
He was no socialist of the modern type and did not believe in a
dead level of equality among men, either in respect to talent or in
material possessions. He expressly states that some would possess
more than others but he expected that the close contact in one dwelling
place would give rise to a more free mingling of those of different de-
grees of wealth. That the differences woiild be slight and cause little
attention to be drawn toward them. He does provide that every mem-
ber of an association should receive a minimum amount sufficient to
clothe and feed him, but the remainder of the income of an association
was to be distributed in the proportions of five-twelfths to labor, four-
twelfths to capital and three-twelfths to talent.
In the year 1832 a young man of means was living in Paris pursuing
his studies. He had gone there from a western village of New York
four years before ; a youth of nineteen, to study philosophy. He studied
in Paris with Cousin, afterward with Hegel in Berlin. Then he wan-
dered in the East and after an interval of three years had again re-
turned to Paris for the express purpose of acquainting himself with the
theories of Fourier. He there became acquainted with Fourier him-
self, and spent some time in intimate relationship with the Circle of
Fourierists who were publishing a weekly paper called "La Reforme
Industrielle."
87
His name was Albert Brisbane. He was a young man of generous
impulses, filled with love of mankind and enkindled with the fires of an
inextinguishable enthusiasm. When he returned to America he made
his home in New York and devoted himself to the task of spreading
the ideas of Fourier. It was a time of ferment. In France, St. Simon
and his writings had been discussed, many of his disciples afterward
embracing Fourierism. In England Robert Owen had made his exper-
iments with a factory community, successfully while under his super-
vision, and had attempted at New Harmony, Indiana, the transplanting
of his ideas into the new world.
The minds of men were opened to the reception of new ideas, and
experiments in social reform were eagerly entered upon.
Horace Greeley, then a young man, had a few years before obtained
the control of the New York Tribune, and was attracting the attention
of the public by his writings.
Brisbane paid for the use of a column in that paper and devoted it
to the inculcation of the ideas of Fourier. He alone was to be re-
sponsible for the sentiments there expressed and for the theories ad-
vocated. Nevertheless Horace Greeley himself became imbued with
Fourierism, and became a zealous advocate of the principles of associ-
ation, giving both time and money to the furthering of the various
projects which sprang up at the time.
Thus New York became the center of the propagation of Fourierism,
and the New York Tribune was not only its organ, through the ar-
rangement which Brisbane had made, but the circulation of the Tribune
itself was greatly increased through the wave of social reformation
which spread like a prairie fire over the entire country, the Tribune
being recognized as the mouth-piece of the leaders of the principles
of passionate attraction and association.
Communities, called Phalanxes, were organized in New York, Penn-
sylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Most of
these were short-lived, and usually ended in loss to the promoters.
The exceptions were the Wisconsin Phalanx and the North American
Phalanx, the latter existing about twelve years.
In 1844 Lick Creek was a postoffice in Sangamon county, Illinois,
about sixteen miles southwest of Springfield. It is said that Sangamon
in Pottawatomie language, means "a. country where there is plenty to
eat." If so, it fitly describes the county, for nowhere can be found a
more fertile soil nor a more agreeable diversity of forest and prairie.
Lick Creek postoffice took its name from a small creek which ran
near the then settlement, on which were salt licks frequented by the
deer.
It is now known as the village of Loami. The early settlers in this
neighborhood were genuine Yankees. They were a reading people
and, no doubt, the new doctrine preached in Brisbane's column of the
Tribune reached this remote settlement. One Rev. Theophilus Sweet
of the Campbellite or Christian church, became a student of the ques-
tion of association, and had as early as 1844, induced some of his neigh-
bors to organize an experiment to test the economy and desirability of
associated effort. The organization was called the Sangamon Associ-
ation.
88
In the Harbinger, Vol. i, p. 288, October 11, 1845, appears the fol-
lowing communication of A. W. Sweet son of the above named Theo-
philus Sweet.
The Sangamon Association.
Mr. Editor — A short account of the Sangamon Association may not be
uninteresting to you. Having had an opportunity to inform ourselves upon
the Science of Social Unity, we last winter gave three lectures upon it, in
this neighborhood, and got up too strong an excitement; (it is not best to
have many out of the same neighborhood, on account of the neighborhood
prejudices) we however, organized in February, selected our officers, and
location, got some five hundred acres of land invested, principally under
cultivation, and well proportioned as to prairie and timber. Our location
on the head of Lick Creek timber, fourteen miles from Springfield, and on
the south side of a six mile prairie with good timber adjoining. The
prairie is undulating^ — ^has a deep rich and black soil and is decidedly
a healthy situation, as twenty years experience proves.
The railroad from Springfield to Meridocia passes immediately by the
domain.
We do not associate imtil the first of March next. The present season
we are making the necessary preparations by building, etc. TJie plan of
our present building is a frame 390 feet in length, 24 in width, the rooms
to be finished off, 16 feet square, in front; two-thirds of the length is to be
one story, and one-third two stories, and is intended for temporary dwellings,
but eventually for work shops, the work, however, is substantial. All the
work done the present year, is paid in stock at the customary prices of the
country. We have now 64 feet in length of our building up, and inclosed,
and the present season we shall burn brick, sow wheat, etc. We have a
saw mill that will be in operation by the first of August. We intend to pro-
ceed in everything with the utmost caution, and yet with firmness, and can
see no reason why we should not succeed.
Our constitution is liberal, but allows us to contract no debt to exceed
five per cent upon the capital.
We solicit subscriptions of stock, and request those who are favorable
to Association to come and see our location, soil ,etc. We, however, want
none who view it only as a matter of dollars and cents, but those who
are Associationists in deed and truth; no busy-bodies in other men's mat-
ters, brawlers nor contentious persons; but persons of good morals, who
are willing to be pioneers in the regeneration of Society, and such as
are not apt to put their hands to the plough and look back, but Philan-
thropists. We have now thirty-five productive members, and but fifteen un-
productive (children) members and shall only admit new members as we
can furnish rooms and profitable employment.
A. W. Sweet.
Springfield, July 5, 1845.
Alphadelphia Toscin.
About the time The Sangamon Association started into being one
John S. Williams of Cincinnati, Ohio, who is spoken of as one of the
most active exponents of Fourierism in the West, with a few others,
had organized what they termed "The Integral Phalanx."
They had contracted for about 900 acres of land in the vicinity of
Middletown, Ohio, about twenty-three miles north of Cincinnati on the
Miami Canal. It was known as the Manchester Mills property, and
Mr. Abner Enoch who had agreed to sell it to the Phalanx for $45,000
was to subscribe $25,000 to the capital stock. They drew up an elabor-
ate system of pledges and rules for the government of the Phalanx,
which were no doubt chiefly the work of Mr. Williams. They are en-
titled.
39
Pledges and Rules.
promoting the birth, education and after-life of the Integral Phalanx.
There are five pledges and thirty-two rules, forming an elaborate system
of organization and conduct.
A part of Pledge I is as follows: "Having great confidence in the practi-
cal application of the doctrines of Associated Industry as taught by Charles
Fourier, of France, and having a desire to see them tested agreeably to the
laws of universal analogy maintained by him, we, for that purpose, pledge
and promise to pay, advance or loan the amount of money or capital by us
hereto severally subscribed to John S. Williams, Joseph Williams and
Mathew Westervelt, trustees, and their appointed or elected successors, and
their associates acting under the name and style of The Integral Phalanx
Pledge II.
"We who have designated ourselves as members of said Phalanx in our
subscription hereto, pledge and promise, to the above named persons and
to each other, that unless prevented by circumstances above our control, to
enter said Phalanx, with all the individuals we in like manner designate
as members, or may be substituted for them or added to them, as soon as
proper preparations for its organization shall be made, if within three and
one-half years from this time, and, also that we will remain in it at least
three and one-half years, so that the system may have a fair test, for which
we feel an ardent desire, under the firm conviction of the benefits of As-
sociation and of the detriments of civilization."
The rules provide for what is essentially a joint stock company.
Each member is to possess at least one share of the value of $ioo.
This may be contributed in money, land, or of credits for labor per-
formed or materials furnished.
The Phalanx was not to be organized until there were 64 families or
about 400 hundred persons of all ages and both sexes, but might have
an inceptive existence while the requisite number was being secured.
The precautions taken to secure harmony were great.
For instance, when the time comes to select a domain or local habi-
tation for the Phalanx every member shall have the privilege of viewing
the proposed domain, and of voting upon the selection. When the
selection is made, the minority, if they wish it, may be released from
their pledges, retire from the Phalanx, and be refunded their credits.
The rules are not to be altered without a month's notice thereof and
only by a vote of eleven- twelfths: of those present, and again there is
the provision that the minority may withdraw if they wish.
Also Rule XXX reads : "Excepting the pledges of experiment every
denizen of Phalanx shall at all times have the liberty to withdraw^him-
self or herself from membership, and withdraw his or her stock."
This system of pledges and rules was signed in Ohio by those con-
templating the formation of the Integral Phalanx on October 16, 1844.
The rules provide for the printing of a Gazette to be the medmm of
extending their views and keeping in touch with other like organiza-
tions. The first number of this paper called "The Ploughshare aiid
Pruning-hook" was published in Cincinnati, July i, 1845. We are told
that the name of the paper is symbolic ;^^ ploughshare signifymg pro-
duction" and pruning hook "correction," .
90
In the editor's inaugural we find the following :
"We are prepared to prove to you the fulfillment of the word of truth
concerning the destiny of man, that the time has fully come and the means
are now furnished for all to 'beat their swords into ploughshares and their
spears into pruning-hooks,' and that they need to learn war no more.
"As the sword and spear are implements of warlike destruction and there-
fore truly symbolic of the present antagonistic society so also are the
ploughshare and pruning-hook implements of peaceful production and there-
fore truly symbolic of associated industry."
They supposed they had perfected arrangements for the Manchester
Mills property, but some difficulty arose as to the settlement of the
terms and the whole matter fell through. The leaders set out in search
of a new location. They first visited Greenville, Bond county, Illinois,
where they had been offered a location. They formally called a meet-
ing to be held there in September, 1845, to decide upon the question.
During that month they visited Sangamon county, and there found the
association in existence which has already been refered to calling itself
the ''Sangamon Association."
They were invited by the Sangamon Association to unite with them.
The rules and pledges of the Integral Phalanx were read and ex-
plained to the members of the Sangamon Association, who expressed
approval of them.
When the time for the meeting in Bond county arrived the president
and secretary of the Sangamon Association accompanied their Ohio
visitors. None of the other members from Ohio answered the call of
the meeting, and it was adjourned to the i6th of October, 1845, to be
held on the Domain of the Sangamon Association.
It met there according to arrangement, and the members of the
Sangamon Association having previously had sufficient time to be-
come familiar with the pledges and rules, signed them that day, Octo-
ber 16, 1845, ^"d the Sangamon Association became merged in the
Integral Phalanx.
Their own view of the prospects for success with this re-enforcement
of new blood and the acquisition of a domain will best be understood
by brief excerpts from a letter dated four days later, and sent to the
New York Tribune, which published it the first week in November.
Home of the Integral Phalanx.
Sangamon County, Oct. 20, 1845.
To the Editor of the New York Tribune:
"We wish to apprise the friends of association that the Integral Phalanx
having for one year wandered like Noah's dove finding no resting place for
the sole of its foot has at length found a habitation. A union was formed
on the 16th of October inst., with the Sangamon Association, * * *
"We were defeated, as we now believe, very fortunately for us, in secur-
ing a location in Ohio.
"We have now a home embracing 500 acres of Uncle Sam's dominions
fourteen miles southwest from Springfield, the capital of the State, and in
what is considered the best county and wealthiest portion of the State.
Our domain can be extended any distance, embracing three miles square,
at an average of from five to seven dollars per acre, as we may wish to '
make additions. (This land now after nearly one hundred years of culti-
vation is worth about $150 per acre.)
91
"We have, however, at present sufficient land for our purposes. It consists
of high rolling prairie and woodlands adjoining, which can not be excelled
in the State for beauty of scenery and richness of soil, covered with luxuri-
ant growth of timber of almost every description, oak, hickory, sugar maple,
walnut, etc. The land is well watered, lying upon Lick Creek, with springs
in abundance and excellent well water at the depth of twenty feet. The land
under proper cultivation will produce one hundred bushels of corn to the
acre and everything else in proportion. There are five or six comfortable
buildings upon the property, and a temporary frame building commenced
by the Sangamon Association, intended, when finished, to be 390 feet by
twenty-four feet, (120 feet of it to be two stories high) is now being erected
for the accommodation of families.
"Under our rules of progress it will be seen that until we are prepared to
organize, we go upon the system of hired labor. "We pay to each individual
a full compensation for all assistance rendered in labor or other services
and charge him fair price for what he receives from the Phalanx. The
balance of earnings after deducting the amount of what he receives to be
credited to him as stock to draw interest as capital. To capital whether it
be money or property put in at a fair price we allow ten per cent compound
interest. This plan will be pursued until our edifice is finished and we
have about 400 persons ready to form a temporary organization.
"We intend to follow Fourier's instructions until we find they are wrong;
then we will abandon them. As to an attempt to organize groups and
series until we have the number, have gone through a proper system
of training and erected an edifice sufficient for the accommodation of about
400 persons, every feature of our Rules of Progress forbids it.
"We believe that the effort will place every Phalanx that attempts it in
a situation worse than civilization itself. This distance between civiliza-
tion and association cannot be passed at a leap.
"If an association will violate every scientific principle taught by Fourier,
pay no regard to analogy, and attempt an organization of groups and
series before any preparation is made for it, and then run into anarchy and
confusion, and become disgusted with their efforts, we hope they will have
the honesty to take the blame upon themselves and not charge it to the
Science of Association.
"Those of our members now upon the ground are composed principally
of the former members of the Sangamon Association. We expect a number
of our members from Ohio this fall, and many more of them in the spring.
We have applications for information and membership from different direc-
tions, and expect large accessions in numbers and capital during the com-
ing year.
"We would urge all the friends of Association to exert themselves with
unwearied and unwavering energy in the great cause. Whatever feeling
of indifference may exist, whatever opposition they may meet with from
ignorance, bigotry and the scoffs and sneers of the 'would-be witty,' the
great principles of combined action; attractive industry, the grand social
law that governs universal movement are silently and gradually gaining
ground, and sooner or later must be crowned with universal and triumphant
success. The night is passed, and although darkness still prevails the
dawn is breaking."
These are but brief extracts from the letter which occupies about
one and one-half columns of the Tribune. It was probably written by
William H. Galbraith, a young lawyer, and the first secretary of the
Integral Phalanx. Mr. John S. Williams, who had been president and
Mr. Galbraith, who had been secretary of the Phalanx from the time
of its organization in Ohio were president and secretary of it re-
spectively on its Sangamon Domain.
The land actually contributed by the members of the Sangamon As-
sociation amounted to 310 acres. It seems probable that forty acres
93
more were bought with a part of the cash contribution of $400 made
by a member from Ohio, so that the Domain did not at any time exceed
350 acres.
Only a portion of the building projected was ever built and that it
seems was ready for occupation in the early winter. It is thus de-
scribed by a lady whose parents occupied a portion of it and whose
recollections of the life there are vivid, she being then a girl of fourteen
years.
"The scheme was soon noised ahroad and strangers began to flock in.
This made it necessary to build some new houses, which they proceeded to
do. Some of the new comers were carpenters and immediately went to work
putting up a building 72 feet long and 16 feet wide, divided by partitions
into four rooms. At the back of the main building was a side or shed
room, the whole length of the first, ten feet wide, also divided by partitions;
some of the rooms the same length as the one in front, some of them
divided into two.
"The one we occupied was divided, making three rooms. They were
lathed and plastered and were very comfortable. None of the families
in these rooms were large. Mr. John M. Thrasher's, which was the largest,
consisted of himself, wife and four little girls, as sweet and pretty as could
be found anywhere. Our rooms were next to theirs, and they were as nice
and pleasant a family as any one could wish to live by. On the other
side of us lived Silas Sims, wife and two children. Uncle William and Aunt
Achsea lived in the east end.
"The first president of the Association was named Williams. He was not
liked by the people and did not remain long. Mr. Pearce was chosen presi-
dent after that and was very popular.
"The plan for work was to divide the men into groups with a chief for
each group. For instance, my father was appointed to oversee a certain part
or branch of farm work. Then he would select the men and boys he
thought best suited to that kind of work.
"Father was also chief of the milking force and he and mother had entire
charge of the dairy, keeping the accounts, weighing and measuring out the
butter and milk to the applicants. They had a good brick dairy house and
a large patent churn.
"We did not eat at one common table while we lived there, but they after-
ward built a large dining room and kitchen adjoining the building I first
described, and they all ate at the same table.
"We left there in the spring of 1846. The way of living did not suit
mother. I was young and thoughtless with not much to do, and I enjoyed
it hugely.
"The members were nearly all pleasant, intelligent people and it was a
good place for social intercourse. There was only one person I can remem-
ber really disliking and that was old Mr. Williams, the first president."
The following extract is from a letter written by Mrs. Harriet I.
Parker of Sparland, 111., the youngest daughter of Adin E. Meacham,
who put into the Phalanx 11 1 acres of land and his stock and farm
equipment.
"The houses were built in a long row, all as one house, then partitioned
off two rooms for each family. Back of them were the dining room, kitchen,
wash room, milk house, etc. All kinds of farm work were carried on sys-
tematically.
Each one had his or her work to do. Two women did the cooking and
took care of the milk. A man with certain boys to help him took care
of the cows and did the milking and churning. Another man with boys'
help, did all the gardening, brought the vegetables all cleaned to the kitchen
ready for the cooks.
93
"Three women with young girls to help did the washing. Others did the
ironing. One woman taught the school. A girl two or three years my
senior did the dining room work. The teacher would' excuse her from the
school room at 11 o'clock to set the table and wait on the people while
they ate. Was not expected back in the school room until the work was all
done.
"The cooks washed the kitchen utensils and cleaned up the kitchen. Two
women did the spinning, for in those days we had the yarn spun and knit
the stockings for large and small, young and old.
"We had our President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc. Also our gentlemen of
leisure, who could act their part, who toiled not, yet fared as well as the
ones who labored,
"Everything moved along like clock work for a few months, then the
spirit of discontent began to show itself, grew stronger and stronger, finally
ending in a general breaking up. It was too much of a one-sided affair.
Men came there with large families, no property, very little money and in
some instances none at all and were getting a living at the expense of the
old farmers who had invested their all and had small families to keep.
"My father lost $1,000 to $1,500 in the venture. Never got half his stock
back and not all of his land."
Charles H. Dawson, the writer's father, was the blacksmith of the
Phalanx. The writer's mother, writes as follows :
"When the Integral Phalanx was organized with so many of our friends
we felt no hesitancy in joining and put in all our possessions which were
our five acre home and a good cow. Father was willing to cast his lot with
all his possessions into the venture, but mother was bitterly opposed to it
and shed many tears before consenting to it. Aunt Achsa Colburn had
many talks with her on the subject. Mother never had any faith in the
success of the Association.
"After we joined, we were anxious to go up and be with them, and they
were anxious to have the shop there, and get the work, so we moved up
in the log house in the yard first. Then into one room with mother to let
another family have the log house.
"Uncle Wm. Colburn had his saw mill and they cut trees off the land that
.was given and sawed their own lumber for the long Unity house. It was only
one story. Carpenters came and with the help already there began building.
When summer came with time for garden and fruit, it was a hard time for
us. Rules had been made and adopted, and there were pa's cherries and
other fruit that we were not allowed to touch. Boys and men were sent to
pick the fruit which was equally divided. Many families coming from a
distance brought nothing, but we had to see the fruit divided getting
scarcely a taste of what would otherwise have been ours in the greatest
abundance.
"Then the garden was away off and not enough anyway that first sum-
mer. I remember I went after some potatoes once and a boy went to show
me where to get them. A stake with our name was at the end of the row
and the rows were ours to another stake,
"Then there was trouble about getting milk. Seldom could have more
than a quart, because my family was small, and there was our cow the
milkers told me, the best one among them."
L, O, Colburn of Loami, son of William Colburn, was a young lad
at the time his father joined the Phalanx,
The following items are taken from a recent letter.
"As I recall it father and mother became members of the Integral Phalanx
in the fore part of 1846 and we moved in the spring into one set of rooms of
the 'long building.' This building was intended to house four families and
was so framed that other sets of rooms could be added as needed. It was
built from lumber, cut and sawed from trees on lands of the society. We
occupied the east set of rooms. We lived here till the spring of 1847 when
father and mother withdrew from membership and moved back to the old
home.
94
"In a brick building north of the 'long house' the milk of several cows
was worked into butter and cheese by the women of the society, who I think
worked by reliefs or details, changing regularly.
"As I remember the plan of organization those who owned property put
it into the society for use only, they reserving the right to withdraw it or
its value whenever they desired to cancel their membership. Bach member
was credited with a specified sum per hour for the time employed in labor
and charged for provisions, clothing, fuel, etc., furnished him. Accounts
were balanced at stated intervals.
"There was a hemp and rope plant in which some kind of horsepower
was used to run the machinery. I well remember the dam across the
branch and the pond where the hemp was put into the water to rot or
soften and loosen the bark to prepare it for breaking and hackling which
cleaned up the hemp for use. Also the rope walk where the finished product
was twisted into rope by hand power.
"There was a school and during the spring and summer months the
boys six to twelve years of age were required to work in the garden two or
three hours each day under the supervision of the school teacher."
From all sources of information open to the writer there were con-
nected with the Phalanx from first to last 32 men, 21 women and 42
children. There were 20 families.
But human nature was no more perfect among the followers of
Fourier than among those who still clung to the abuses of civilization.
Somehow harmony does not come at call, nor is it always found among
those who are loudest in its praise. Differences of opinion arose as
to the conduct of affairs. These gave rise to dissensions and jealousies.
Enterprising spirits arose who thought they were as capable and
worthy of the management of affairs as was Mr. Williams.
The women especially upon whom fell the duty of providing a
bountiful table, and who in those days of cheapness and plenty were
little acctistomed to consider a matter of a dozen eggs or a pound of
butter more or less, found it hard to have all the supplies of the
household measured out to them, and mayhap to have some one in
authority state that so many pounds of butter per week to a family
of a certain size was sufficient.
There was evidently a little cabal or combination of a few members
against such as refused to be guided by their influence. One or two
of the members of much influence were arbitrary in their manner and
Jiard to get along with.
Differences arose also between the president and members of the
Phalanx, so that he was obliged to resign which he did March 6,
1846. According to his own story threats of personal violence were
made against him. It is difficult to get at the real cause of the dis-
satisfaction on the part of the members with their president. He
says euphoniously, "that a diiference of opinion in relation to policy
becoming manifest the Phalanx suffered him to be excessively abused
and vituperated until he felt constrained to retire from the presidency."
It is probable, however, that the quarrel had a meaner origin, and
that the dissension arose over an attempt on his part to cause the
Phalanx to pay for time spent and services rendered in attempts at
organizing the Integral Phalanx in Ohio. The amount claimed by him
was $1,100. Naturally the members in Illinois who had received
nothing but a name objected to taking with it obligations previously
incurred in an unsuccessful attempt at organization.
95
A few days after his resignation he wrote a leter to The Harbinger,
extracts from which appeared in the issue of April 4, 1846, in a gen-
eral article entitled, "The Integral Phalanx, Sangamon County, Illi-
nois." Reference to the letter from Williams is made as follows :
"Mr. Williams writes: After the Union of the two associations, I was the
only member from Ohio, with no inconsiderable amount of latent incompati-
bility between my views, habits, feelings, and those of my associates here,
who all belong to this State, while ten out of the fourteen families now on
the domain are connected by blood, or by marriage, and twelve of them
belong to one religious class, among which are two preachers, a father and
son.
"The class of Christians to which twelve of our families belong, is in its
general principles liberal minded, and well disposed. They are strong
against all creeds and sects, and yet in somfe things are as decidedly sectar-
ian as any others. Privacy of business is one thing which they are unitedly
against. They transact all their most disagreeable disciplinary affairs in
public. This feature in their regime is well calculated to catch the popular
breeze and to push their bark ahead.
"You know that from the first hour I was president of the Integral
Phalanx, on March 27th of last year, I was decidedly in favor of select
meetings, when we were transacting business belonging to the Phalanx. I
have never been able to see the utility of throwing our door open to a
meddlesome, curious, fault-finding community; neither do I believe any
council, committee, series or group, within any Phalanx will ever be able
to act efficiently, properly, unitedly, or emulously, unless allowed the
privilege of privacy in their particular business, without the meddlesome
interference of others not so well informed and not equally interested in it.
"The nucleus being thus formed of one cast of sentiment the twelve fami-
lies would have little labor to perform in bringing the remaining two fami-
lies into unison with them, and on the first question in which the right
of privacy was mooted, I found them unanimously against it.
"Rather than surrender rights so fundamental and so inseparably con-
nected with efficient action, and the freedom of association, I chose to sur-
render any official standing in the Phalanx. My resignation was accepted
on last Monday evening, but not without a struggle to maintain rights
which even civilization never denies, except suspicion of treason or felony
is attached to the parties using it. It is due, however, in justice to the
parties as well as to the cause of Associative Unity, to say that the whole
has been conducted, and my resignation made and accepted as the inevitable
tendency of things as they exist, without so much as one hard word being
uttered, or the least hard feeling on either side as far as I know or believe.
I am not of those who think it best to compromise with present errors
at the expense of the future, and most likely, to its ruin."
After the departure of Mr. Williams, Mr. Wm. G. Pearse was
elected president, but the interests of the Phalanx did not flourish.
Several families dropped out. A brief extract from a letter written
to Mr. Williams dated, "Home of the Integral Phalanx, Dec. 15, 1846,"
will illustrate the condition of associative unity then existing :
"You probably have been made aware of our having lost some of our
members, some of which at least we are better off without than with
them.
"Marshall's family are yet on the domain and will remain during the
winter, and whether he will take them away in the spring or not I cannot
say, but the probability is that he will. (This is confidential of course.)
A. W. left without anyone regretting his absence. He proved himself
a rascal of deepest dye even for civilization, and I made up my mind soon
after uniting here that the same association could not contain both of us,
and had not he left I should. Of this I have given you some hints before.
But he found that his influence was gone and he might as well go likewise.
J. F. Harrison loved money better than Association or his own soul either
96
and has gone to seek a place to gratify that passion more surely than he
could here. William Colburn it is expected will leave soon probably by his
own free will and if not, by some other means. There is no objection to
Colburn himself but his wife is altogether un-get-along-able-with and must
leave."
Even at this time, the middle of December, 1846, they were be-
ginning to discuss the possible near end of the Association and to con-
sider their legal rights as fixed by the rules of a crude and defective
civilization, and we learn from a letter written January 30, 1847, ^hat
some of the members had already taken legal advice and the general
plan of a dissolution had been determined upon.
Those who had contributed land were naturally desirous of getting
it back. The land had been conveyed to John S. Williams, Joseph
Williams, and Theophilus Sweet, as trustees for the subscribers to
and members of the Integral Phalanx.
Joseph Williams had never come to the domain, and John S. Wil-
liams had long since been compelled to resign the presidency. This
left the Phalanx in the unpleasant predicament of having the legal
title to its domain standing partially in citizens of another state, not
members of the Association.
Regular action was taken by the Phalanx and pursuant thereto a
request was made upon these trustees to reconvey to trustees in Illi-
nois. The request was refused. On May 13, 1847, ^ bill was filed
by eighteen remaining shareholders in the Phalanx for the purpose of
compelling the two trustees, Williams, to join the third trustee in a
conveyance to the new trustees who had been designated by the
Phalanx.
The bill was drawn by Stephen T. Logan, one of the most noted
lawyers of Illinois, and is a model of clear, concise statement.
A long rambling answer was filed by John S. Williams, in Novem-
ber. Depositions were taken in Cincinnati and at Lick Creek. On the
hearing which followed in April, 1848, the relief prayed for was
granted ; the property was conveyed by the master to the new trustees
and by them to those entitled to it, usually the original grantors, but
with some diminution of acreage as the credits which the various
members had upon the books *for work done or material contributed
had to be settled for, and the deficiency after disposing of cattle, crops,
etc., had to be made up from the land.
As one observer said in reference to the previous working of the
scheme, "The shareholders kept losing and those who came in with
nothing were getting along very well." They had experienced the
fate of the numerous other attempts that were made throughout the
country about the same time. They had had a longer existence than
many associations, and the outcome was less diastrous, but they
had again demonstrated the truth of two propositions.
First. That there exists no wisdom either in any individual or in
a select number of individuals so great that it can infallibly determine
the taste, capacity, and field of employment of the different members
of a community and have it acquiesced in for any length of time.
Second. That a different external form of attempting to harmonize.
97
the conflicting interests of men to such an extent as to permit them
to Hve in communities does not change the nature of men themselves
and cannot remove the controlHng force of selfish interests.
NOTE I.
The following is as complete a list as could be obtained of those at any lime connected
with The Integral Phalanx.
Anderson, Dickey, widower, father of Mrs. Harney and of Mrs. A. W. Sweet.
Bishop, Mr., clock tinker, only remained during winter of 1845-46.
Bishop. Mrs.
Burr, Albert, 18 years old, nephew of Theophilus Sweet.
Burr, George A., said to have gone from Springfield.
Burr, Phoebe, his wife.
Colburn, William.
Colburn, Aschsa, his wife. Children, Paul, Isaac, Eben, Otis, David, Spencer, Daniel, Clar-
rissa, Abbie, Fannie, Mehitabel and Margaret.
Dawson, Charles H.
Dawson, Julia A., his wife; one child, Richard H.
Emery, Mr.
Galbraith, William H., young lawyer from New York, taught school for Phalanx one winter,
probably 1845-46.
Gould, William, *. not members, but lived on Domain some months; printed the Plow-
Gould, Hannah, his wife, ) share and Pruning-hook. official organ of Phalanx.
Harkness, Mrs., probably from Peoria.
Harkness, Edward, son, 18 years old. Two daughters.
Harney, James, brother-in-law of Ansel Sweet, from Morgan Co.
Harney, Mrs., his wife. Two children.
Harney, William, reported by Amanda Sweet Cole, as having been a member.
Harrison, John F. / Nephews of Mrs. Theophilus Sweet.
Harrison, Milton B., i
James, Mrs., widow, came with Pearses from N. Y. Afterwards married Albert Burr.
Leavering, Peter, of New York.
Marshall, James.
Marshall, Mrs., his wife. Children, Anson, son; Ruhumy, daughter; Alfred, son; daughter
name unknown.
Martin, David A,
Martin, Alexander, son 16 year old.
Mathews, C. B.
Mathews, Mrs., his wife. One child.
Meacham, Adin, E.
Meacham, Isabel, his wife. Children, AdinE. A., son; Harriett, daughter.
Meigs, Mr.
Pcarse, William G.. from N. Y.
Pearse, Mrs., his wife.
Shastee, Mary, ward of Theophilus Sweet.
Sims, Austin.
Sims, Silas.
Sims, Mrs., his wife. Two children.
Smith, Robert, I
Smith, Charles, son, ,- From Cincinnati.
Smith, Giles, son, )
Strong, Alfred.
Sweet, Levi, son of Theophilus Sweet.
Sweet, Mrs., his wife. Children, Manda, Henry and Sarah.
Sweet, Ansel, son of Theophilus Sweet.
Sweet, Mrs., his wife. Three children.
Sweet. Judson, son of Theophilus Sweet.
Sweet, Mrs., his wife.
Sweet, Lewis, widower, son of Theophilus Sweet.
Sweet, Cyrus S., son of Theophilus Sweet, 18 years, unmarried.
Sweet, Theophilus W.
Sweet, Mrs. Lucinda, his wife.
Sweet, Phoebe M., daughter of Theophilus Sweet, afterwards married Tankersley.
Thrasher, JohnM.
Thrasher, Mrs., his wife. Four little girls.
Williams, John S.
Woodworth, Daniel, widower.
Woodworth, Sarah, daughter of Daniel.
-8 H S
98
NOTE II,
The Phalanx, organ of the Fourier movements, was published in New York, beginning in
October, 1843. In June 1845 The Phalanx and The Social Reformer were united under the title
' 'The Harbinger, " and continued under that name until Feb. 10, 1849. Copies are preserved in
the Ely collection in the John Crerar Library, Chicago.
NOTE III.
The writer, in 1893 found in the basement of the court house in .Springfield, the files in the
case of Dickey Anderson et al. v. John S. Williams et. al., circuit court for Sangamon county,
Illinois. The bill, answer, depositions and exhibits, gives a history of the Integral Phalanx,
worthy of preservation. If the State Historical Society cannot get possession of these original
files it should have complete copies of the same.
98
NOTE II.
The Phalanx, organ of the Fourier movements, was published in New York, heginning in
October, 1843. In June 1845 The Phalanx and The Social Reformer were united under the title
' 'The Harbinger, " and continued under that name until Feb. 10, 1849. Copies are preserved in
the Ely collection in the John Crerar Library, Chicago.
NOTE III.
The writer, in 1893 found in the basement of the court house in Springfield, the files in the
case of Dickey Anderson et al. v. John S. Williams et. al., circuit court for Sangamon county,
Illinois. The bill, answer, depositions and exhibits, gives a history of the Integral Phalanx,
worthy of preservation. If the State Historical Society cannot get possession of these original
files it should have complete copies of the same.
99
GRIERSON'S CAVALRY RAID.
By S. A. Forbes,
Formerly Captain, Company B, Seventh Illinois Cavalry.
The Grierson raid, made in April, 1863, from Lagrange, in western
Tennessee, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the first of the great fed-
eral cavalry raids of the Civil War, and one of the most brilliantly
successful. It was a rapid ride of some six hundred miles* through
the heart of the enemy's country, made by a mounted force of less
than a thousand men,f belonging to two Illinois regiments, the Sixth
and Seventh Cavalry, commanded by B. H. Grierson, colonel of the
Sixth. It had for its principal object the destruction of the railways
in the rear of Vicksburg, the sole remaining means of transportation
of supplies and men to that Confederate stronghold at a time when
both supplies and men were desperately needed.
The force which made the ride to Baton Rouge consisted wholly of
Illinois men, under an Illinois leader, although the Second Iowa Cav-
alry, belonging to the same brigade, accompanied the column for the
first four days, and was then sent back to the starting point as a foil
to the pursuit. When I add that the commander of the district under
whose direction the expedition was planned and by whose orders it
was set on foot, was Major-General S. A. Hurlbut, also an Illinoisan,
a citizen of Belvidere, and that his immediate superior, by whose final
authority the raid was made, was General U. S. Grant of Illinois, I
doubt not that it will be conceded that the history of this Mississippi
campaign may properly enough be called a legitimate part of the
history of this State.
It was my good fortune to make this ride, a youth of 18 ot the time,
first sergeant of a company of the Seventh Illinois, of which my
brother, H. C. Borbes, was captain. It was my first experience in a
free field after seven months' absence from my regiment, four of them
in a southern prison and three in a northern hospital following there-
upon. It naturally made a vivid impression at the time, one which
has by no means wholly faded yet, and I am sure the reader will
pardon me if, in the course of this paper, I sometimes fail to keep the
even pace of the calm historian or to muster the items of this narrative
in perfectly correct perspective.
*Grierson's Report. Rebellion Records. Ser. I, vol. 24, pt. I, p. 528.
tGrierson's Report. Reb. Rec, Ser. I, vol. 24, pt. I, p. 523.
ICXD
I have had, in preparing it, the great advantage of a voluminous
manuscript upon the subject, left at his death by my brother, Captain
H. C. Forbes, afterwards lieutenant-colonel of his regiment and brevet
colonel of volunteers, and I have consulted all the official reports, dis-
patches, and other papers on the raid printed in the various volumes
of the records of the rebellion.* I have also made occasional use of a
contemporary personal narrative by a sergeant of the Seventh Illinois
Cavalry, Mr. R. W. Surby, published by him in 1865 ;f and have col-
lected a considerable number of articles from newspapers, northern
and southern, printed in the early part of 1863.
During the late winter and early spring of 1863 the center of mili-
tary interest in the Mississippi valley was at Vicksburg, where all
things were shaping themselves towards the tragic climax of the con-
federate surrender on the following July 4. Grant was about to shift
his army, on the west side of the river, by land from Milliken's Bend
above that point to Bruinsburg below it, and, crossing the river there,
to swing to the north and east through Mississippi, breaking loose from
his base of supplies and investing Vicksburg from the rear. Pember-
ton, at Jackson, was in command of the confederate forces in Missis-
sippi and eastern Louisiana. The confederate General Gardner was
at Port Hudson with some 20,000 men, 1,400 of them cavalry J and the
federal General /\ugur was at Baton Rouge. Grand Gulf, thirty miles
below Vicksburg, was occupied by the confederate General Bowen ;
Port Gibson, by a small confederate cavalry force under Colonel Wirt
Adams ;§ and Natchez, by a still smaller one, a part of Adams' regi-
ment, under Captain Cleveland. ||
In central Tennessee the armies under Rosecrans and Bragg were
confronting each other at Murfreesboro and Tullahoma, respectively,
both slowly recovering from the effects of the battle of Stone River —
terrific to victor and victim alike — and each mainly interested, for the
time, in keeping the other from reinforcing either Grant on the one
hand or Pemberton on the other.
In northern Mississippi and western Tennessee two parties to an
approaching conflict were facing each other on either side of the
interstate boundary, the northern party strung along the old Memphis
and Charleston railroad, from Memphis on the west to Corinth on the
east ; and the southern party, less compactly formed — rather loosely
scattered, indeed — through the northern part of Mississippi, with
Panola, on the Tallahatchie, at its western end and Columbus at its
eastern. This difference in formation was partly due to the fact that
*The War ol the Rebellion — a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confed-
erate Armies; Ser. I, vol. XXIV, Parts I and III. Cited in these notes as Reb. rec, vol. 24, pts.
I and III; or R. R. 24, pts. I and III.
tGrierson Raids, and Hatch's Sixty-four Days' March, with Biographical Sketches, and
the Life and Adventures of Chickasaw, the Scout. By R. W. Surby. Chicago. 1865. Cited here
as ' 'Surby". This graphic narrative by a sergeant of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, well known
to the present writer, although marred by many typographical errors, especially in local and
personal names, is entirely reliable as to matters which came under the author's personal ob-
servation, and commonly so as to events occurring in his immediate neighborhood,
iDepartment Returns, March 31, 1863, Reb. rec, ser. I, vol. 24, pt. Ill, p. 702. But see
Gardner to Pemberton, April 29, pt. Ill, p. 803.
§Col. Wirt Adams to General Pemberton, April 29, 1863. Reb. rec, ser. I, vol. 24. pt. I,
p, 533.
II Report of Capt. S. B. Cleveland, April 28. Reb. rec, ser. I, vol.24, pt. I. p. 538; and Col.
Wirt Adams to Gen. Pemberton, April 29, p. 533.
HENRY CLINTON FORBES,
Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet Colonel Seventh Illinois Cavalry. Captain of Company
B. at the time of Grierson's Raid.
lOl
the confederates were holding two north and south roads, the Mis-
sissippi Central and the Mobile and Ohio, while the line held by the
federals ran east and west. Hurlbut of Illinois was at Memphis as
district commander in charge of the northern line. Dodge was at Cor-
inth and Sooy Smith had his headquarters at Lagrange, about mid-
way between, holding the railroad with some 10,000 men, the Second
Iowa and the Sixth and Seventh Illinois Cavalry regiments among
them,* Chalmers was in charge of the western part of the confederate
forces, with headquarters at Panola, where he had about a thousand
cavalry and a battery of artillery ;f and Ruggles, at Columbus, was in
command of about 2,000 men on the eastern side of the state, J both
generals taking their ordcs from Pemberton direct. Chalmers' dis-
trict extended to New Albany, on the Tallahatchie, § and his picket line
was on that stream to the east, and to the west on the Coldwater, south
of Memphis. Ruggles' advance post was at Verona, || south of Cor-
inth, with a picket north to Baldwyn, and his district extended west
to New Albany. From this point to Panola there was no occupied
post, the country being covered only by occasional scouting parties,
pickets and patrols. It will be seen that this southern line, if line it
can be called, had no common commander corresponding to Hurlbut
on the north, and that it had no center guard opposed to Sooy Smith
at Lagrange — defects of organization and position to which the sub-
sequent confederate disaster was in great measure due. Northern
Mississippi had, indeed, been largely stripped of cavalry in January,
when General Van Dorn was sent to eastern Tennessee with 5,000
mounted men to report to Bragg.^ The famous Forrest was also in
Tennessee, at Shelbyville, under Van Dorn's command.
Such was the situation in April, when there swarmed out from the
north, suddenly and almost simultaneously, five swiftly moving col-
umns, two of them cavalry raids, and the others feints or diversions
made in aid or support of these two. Colonel A. D. Streight, sent by
Rosecrans, from Nashville, a long roundabout way, down the Cum-
berland and up to Tennessee, with about 1,900 men to Eastport, Ala-
bama, left the Tennessee river there and started east and south through
northern Alabama to destroy railroads, stores and manufactories. His
force was wretchedly mounted, mainly on mules secured after the
start, and Forrest's excellent cavalry, dropping down from Shelbyville
on his rear, presently overtook and surrounded him and captured his
whole command near Rome, Georgia, on the 3d of May. Partly to sup-
port Streight's expedition, but mainly to draw the confederate cavalry
to the east, away from the line of march of the Grierson raid about
to start from Lagrange, Dodge left Corinth for Tuscumbia April 16
♦Department returns, April 30, First Div.. 16tli Army Corps. R. R., I. vol. 21, pt. Ill, p.
249* sec also p 253
'tDepartment returns, March 31. R. R.. I, vol 24, pt. Ill, P. 702. See also Hurlbut to Grant
April 1, pt. I, p. 27. General Hurlbut estimated Chalmers' force at 1,800 cavalry and one bat-
tery. Hurlbut to W. S. Smith, April 10. pt. Ill, p. 185.
|R. R., 24, pt. Ill, p. 702.
§General Orders No. 93. R. R., vol. 24. pt. Ill, p. 713.
IIHurlbut to Grant, April 1. R. R., ser. I, vol. 24, pt I, p. 26.
HReportof Gen. J. E. Johnston to Adjutant-General Cooper. R. R., vol. 24, pt. I, P- "^l^-
Report of Maj. Wm. D. Blackburn, January 30, pt. I, p. 334. Dod^e to Hamilton. Feb. 12. pt.
Ill, p. 46.
I02
with 5,000 men,* met Streight there April 24, went with him to Court-
land, in Lawrence county, and returned to Corinth on the 2d of May.
The effect of this movement in concentrating Ruggles' cavalry to the
north and east is shown by Pemberton's order to Ruggles of April 19,
that he should send all his mounted troops towards Corinth to create
a diversion in favor of Roddy at Tuscumbiaf thus threatened by
Dodge.
Simultaneously with these movements at the eastern end of our
line, a mixed force of infantry, cavalry and artillery moved south from
Memphis to the Coldwater, twenty-five miles away on the Panola road,
as if to drive Chalmers from his headquarters ;X and on the following
day another column of three regiments of infantry with a battery of
artillery, under Sooy Smith, moved diagonally southwest from La-
grange to the same objective, in the hope of cutting Chalmers off.§
Although the Memphis column failed to cross the Coldwater, and
Chalmers eluded Smith, he was kept completely occupied until April
23, when he returned to Panola.
And now, with the thin confederate line in northern Mississippi
thus completely pulled apart and piled up at its ends, there suddenly
shot down through its abandoned center a slender column of i,Soo
cavalry, thrust, like a nimble sword through an unguarded point, into
the very vitals of the confederate position. || Seasoned soldiers, most
of them, well mounted and well armed, fresh from a winter's rest in
camp (if cavalry can ever be said to rest), gay with youth and the
hope of fresh adventure, with no baggage to encumber them save
what was strapped to their saddles, carrying each forty rounds of
ammunition, five days' rations and a good supply of salt, they were an
exceptionally fit party for a hard and rapid cavalry raid — and hard
and rapid this ride was to be, taxing to its limit the physical endurance
of nearly every man, and putting a strain on the mental resources of
its leaders which doubtless no one else can fully realize.
A cavalry raid at its best is essentially a game of strategy and speed,
with personal violence as an incidental complication. It is played
according to more or less definite rules, not inconsistent, indeed, with
the players' killing each other if the game cannot be woa in any other
way; but it is commonly a strenuous game, rather than a bloody
one, intensely exciting, but not necessarily very dangerous. This nar-
rative will consequently be without the grim and gory features of
*Hurlbut to Halleck, April 18. R. R., vol. 24. pt. III. p. 206.
tReport of Lieut.-GeneralJ. C. Pemberton. R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 253.
tLauman to Bryan, April 17. R. R., 24, pt. Ill, p. 203. Hurlbut to Halleck, April 18, p.
206. Bryan to Randall, April 25, pt. I. p. 557.
§Hurlbut to Smith, April 15, par. 2, R. R.,24, pt. HI, p. 196. Hurlbut to Kelton, May 5, par.
5 and 6, pt. I, p. 520. Smith to Hurlbut, April 23, p. 555. Hurlbut to Rawlins, April 25, p. 555.
Chalmers to Pemberton, April 23, p. 563.
llSee Hurlbut to Rawlins, April 17, 1863. "These various movements along our length of
line will, I hope, so distract their attention that Grierson's party will get a fair start and be well
down to their destination before they can be resisted by adequate force. God speed him, for he
has started gallantly ona long and perilous ride."— R. R., 24, pt. Ill, p. 202. See also Hurlbut
to Rawlins, May 5, 1863. ' 'The movement on Tuscumbia on one side drew attention and gath-
ered their cavalry in that direction, while the movement on Coldwater and Panola drew Chal-
mers and his band in the other. Thus our gallant soldier, Grierson, proceeded with his com-
mand unchallenged." Vol.24, pt. Ill, p. 276. Pemberton writes to Johnston, April 29: "Bar-
teau's command gallantly fought and repulsed a column of the enemy at Birmingham" [referr-
ing to Hatch.] ' 'Chalmers was occupied with another column from Memphis, moving by the
Hernando road, but there was no force to oppose to Grierson's, a well-equipped and well-mounted
force." Vol. 24, pt. Ill, p. 803.
I03
most tales of war, but will tell instead of the rapid march, the subtle
ruse, the gallant dash, the sudden surprise, and the quick and cunning
retreat which leaves an opponent miles in the rear before he knows
that the fight is over.
It was on the 17th of April, 1863,* the day after Dodge's start to
the east from Corinth and Bryan's start to the south from Memphis —
the day of Sooy Smith's march from Lagrange towards Panola — that
the three regiments were set in motion ; and just as the sun rose full and
fine over a charming expanse of small pine-clad hills, the first brig-
ade, stretching itself slowly out from the little village, slid like a huge
serpent into the cover of the Mississippi woods.
In the northern third of the state the streams run southwest into
the Mississippi and southeast into the Tombigbee, leaving the second
tier of counties from the east as a watershed. Along this watershed
the course of the column lay, approximately parallel for about eighty
miles to the Mobile and Ohio railroad, distant from twelve to twenty-
five miles to the east. As this road was held by Ruggles up to within
thirty miles of Corinth, Grierson was particularly exposed, in this
stage of his movement, both to flank attack and to pursuit in force
sufficient greatly to embarrass and delay, if not finally to defeat, his
expedition. It was his first object, consequently, after getting fairly
under way, to confuse and mislead the enemy as to the scope and
object of his plans and to draw him ofif, if possible, in pursuit of a
detachment thrown out as a decoy, leaving the main column to pursue
its way unhindered. On the third day of the raid, after the command
had crossed the Tallahatchie at and near New Albany, three detach-
ments were sent out by Grierson in as many different directions —
two of them moving against camps of state troops in process of organi-
zation, with a view to creating the impression that it was the whole
object of the raid to break up these camps. f A demonstration towards
one of them at Chesterville, to Grierson's left, drew to that point the
attention of Colonel C. R. Barteau,t in command of all the con-
federate cavalry in the northeast part of the state, § and he marched
with a regiment to that place for its defense. If he had followed up
the retiring federal detachment, he would have come at once upon
Grierson's column ; but instead of this he fell back some fifteen miles
to the south and east to cover Okolona and Aberdeen, important rail-
road points which he thought were threatened. || Finding that he was
not pursued, he moved northwest again to Pontotoc,^ and learning
there that Grierson had already passed to the south,** he immediately
gave pursuit with his own regiment, a regiment of state troops, two
additional battalions, and three pieces of artillery. That night he
♦Grierson to Rawlins, Mav5, R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 522.
tGrierson to Rawlins, May 5, R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 522.
tBarteau to Hooe, R. R.. 24, pt. I, p. 534,
gCircular of Adj. B. A. Smith, Aprils, R. R. 24, pt. Ill, p. 716.
llBarteau to Hooe, April 30, R. R. 24, pt. I. p. 534. „ v, . a -, on =>:i
HBarteau to Hooe, April 30, R. R. 24, pt. I. p. 534. Ruffgles to Pemberton. April 20, p. 551.
**The return April 20 from Pontotoc to Lagrange, of 175 of the least effective men, together
with prisoners, led horses, and a single gun of the battery, was managed with the intention of
leading any pursuing force to believe that the whole column had turned back. R. R. 24. pt. I.
pp 523 534 As it had no such consequence, however, I have not mentioned it in the text.
104
rested for three hours within thirteen miles of Grierson's camp,
which he reached next day two hours after Grierson had gone on.*
Then canie a lucky stroke of strategy, by which this strong pursuing
force was lured away from the track of the column and led no less
than fifty miles to the northf in pursuit of a regiment detached by
Grierson to return to Lagrange. On April 21, the fourth day of the
raid, when about eighteen miles below Houston, the county seat of
Chickasaw county, Grierson sent Colonel Hatch with the Second Iowa
Cavalry, numbering about 500 men,| to the west and south on the
West Point road, with orders involving a very ambitious program of
capture and destruction for so small a force. Striking the Mobile and
Ohio road where it crosses the Okatibbehah near West Point, and de-
stroying the bridge acrosss that stream. Hatch was next to move rap-
idly south to Macon for the destruction of railroad and government
stores, and swinging around to the east and north, was to take Colum-
bus, if possible, to break up the railroad south of Okolona, and then
to return to Lagrange.
On hearing of the arrival of the raid at Pontotoc, Ruggles had sur-
mised that its principal object was the destruction of these very rail-
road bridges at Macon and West Point,§ and had taken his defensive
measures accordingly. Pemberton had also ordered troops from
Meridian northward to report to Ruggles on the preceding day,|| and
all threatened points were thus more or less thoroughly guarded
against attack. Fortunately, perhaps, for Hatch, Barteau's pursuing
force was too near to permit him to become very deeply entangled in
this dangerous enterprise. Coming, in his pursuit of Grierson, to the
point where Hatch and Grierson had parted, Barteau mistook the
trail of the Second Iowa for that of the main command. "The enemy
divided at this point," he says, "two hundred going to Starkville and
seven hundred continuing their march on the West Point road,"1[
whereas the Starkville force was Grierson's column, containing now,
after the withdrawal of Hatch, about 950 men.** Following up the
Second Iowa Cavalry towards West Point, Barteau overtook it within
about five miles and attacked it heavily in rear and on the flanks, the
Second Alabama Cavalry barring its way at the same time towards
West Point. ft Hatch thus suddenly found himself between two fires;
but while Barteau was moving to the right and left, hoping to sur-
round and capture him, he broke through the enveloping line to the
rear and, retiring slowly northward, drew the enemy after him in a
series of rear-end skirmishes which lasted until the 24th — the eightfi
day of the raid, and the very one on which Grierson reached the
*Barteau to Hooe, April 30, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 534.
tToMolino, Miss. See Hatch to Harland. April 27, R. R,, 24, pt. I, p. 531. The force which
attacked Hatch at Birmingham was that of Col. Barteau — not that of Chalmers, as Hatch sup-
posed. Barteau to Hooe, April 30, R. R., 24. pt. I, p. 536.
tGrierson to Rawlins. May 5, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 523. Hatch to Harland, April 27. p. 530.
SRuggles to Memminger, May 13, R. R. 24. pt. I, p. 560, par. 2.
!l Pemberton to commanding offlcer of troops at Meridian, April 22, and Pemberton to Rug-
gles. April 22. R. R. 24, pt. Ill, p. 776.
KBarteau to Hooe. April 30, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 534.
**Grierson to Rawlins, May 5, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 523.
ttHatch to Harland, April 27, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 530, par. 4. Cunningham to Ruggles, April
21, p. 552.
JOHN LYNCH,
Colonel Sixth Hlinois Cavalry, Captain of Company E. at Time of Grierson Raid.
I05
Meridian and Vicksburg road. Touching the Mobile and Ohio at Oko-
lona, Hatch paused long enough to burn public property there, and
finally reached Lagrange on the 26th.*
Freed by this diversion of Barteau from all danger of pursuit, and
with no enemy before him or within striking distance upon either
flank, Grierson was now well within the line of confederate defense,
with no opposing force worth mentioning between him and his goal.
His only chance of failure was in a correct interpretation of his move-
ment by Pemberton, and the concentration of troops by rail across his
line of march — a danger which induced still further feints against the
Mobile and Ohio road, intended to keep confederate attention focused
on the protection of. that line.
Unable to detach another considerable body for this purpose from
his principal force, he sent out on his flank a single company of thirty-
five men under Captain H. C. Forbes of the Seventh Illinois, f with
orders to approach Macon, on the railroad, and if possible to break
the telegraph and the road in its vicinity and rejoin the main command.
As this command was to be speeding southward in the meantime at its
highest possible rate, the chance was very remote that this little band
would ever rejoin their comrades, unless, indeed, in a confederate
prison.
Strangely enough, this fragment of a company, ludicrously inade-
quate to its purpose as it seemed, accomplished quite as much as if it
had been ten times at large. Approaching Macon April 22, it spent the
night in bivouac within two and a half miles of that town, capturing,
from a patrol sent out from Macon as a scout, a prisoner, from whom
it was learned that a train of infantry^ and artillery were hourly ex-
pected from the south. This statement is confirmed by the report of
Captain John Lynch§ of the Sixth Illinois who, coming out from Lou-
isville and approaching the town next morning by another road, with
one companion, both in citizen's dress, found a picket on the road,
from whom he learned that the place was held by two regiments of
cavalry, a regiment of infantry and a section of artillery.;}:
A Macon paper of the following day also reports the arrival, during
the night, of two thousand men from Meridian, evidently pursuant
to Pemberton's order of this date already mentioned. Except for the
disturbance caused by this evening patrol, our little company slept
as securely under the trees by the roadside as if protected by impreg-
nable works, its sole defense against capture or death being the wildly
exaggerated reports of the strength of the federal column which were
♦Hatch to Harland, April 22. R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 531.
tGrierson to Rawlins, May 5, R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 528, par. 2.
IGrierson to Rawlins, May 5. R. R.. 24, pt. I, p. 528. par. 4, Surby, p. 39. . ^ ^
§"He went to the pickets at the edge of the town, " says Grierson. ascertaiied the whole
disposition of their forces and much other valuable information, and, returnmg, jomed us at
Decatur, having ridden without interruption two days andlnights, without a moment s rest. All
honor to the gallant captain, whose intrepid coolness and daring characterizes him on every
occasion." Captain Lynch, afterwards major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel of the Sixth Ill-
inois Cavalry, now lives at Olney, Illinois.
io6
by this time flying through the country in all directions, growing as
they flew. Our own little squad was believed in Macon that night to
be the main body of the raid and to consist of 5,000 men.*
Grierson, in the meantime, sped down through Starkville and Louis-
ville on the 22d, secured the bridge across Pearl river by a stratagem
of the advance on the morning of the 23d, f passed through Philadel-
phia, in Neshoba county, at 3 :oo p. m., reached Decatur at day dawn
of the 24th after an all-night ride, and struck the Meridian and Jackson
road at Newton Station, the object of his long swift ride, at 6:00 in
the morning of this, the eighth day of the raid. J Here two trains of
cars were captured and destroyed, one filled with food and ammuni-
tion, including several thousand loaded shells, and the other with ma-
chinery and railroad ties. Commissary and quartermaster's stores
were burned, five hundred stand of arms were broken up, seventy-five
prisoners were captured and paroled, and the railroad was wrecked
and its bridges were burned (two of them about 150 feet long each)
for four and a half miles to the east.§ The seriousness of the blow
thus delivered is shown by Pemberton's statement to Gardner that
there is danger that his supplies will be cut off,|| and by his earnest
appeal, written six days later to the president of the road, urging him
to repair the break in his line with the greatest possible expedition, as
a large part of the supplies from the Vicksburg army must thereafter
come over this road.^ Time was indeed precious to him when he
wrote, for Grant's advance had just crossed the Mississippi to the
Vicksburg side, and in thirteen days more McPherson was at Clinton,
between Vicksburg and Jackson, effectually destroying this same road.
The confusion, uncertainty and concern wrought in confederate
counsels by this daring raid,** are revealed in the multiplicity of orders
sent out and the numerous, complex movements of considerable bodies
of infantry, cavalry and artillery made in various parts of the state
for the prevention of further mischief and the capture, if possible, of
the venturesome party, now isolated in the midst of its foes.
* ' 'Report made the number about 5, 000, but it was reduced to one company of cavalry, num-
bering about eighty men, which reached the residence of Mrs. Augustine, about two and a half
miles from town at daylight [twilight] of Wednesday. They took supper there, and breakfast
the next morning, when they ranged to the northwest portion of the county, robbing individ-
uals and houses, in some cases, and providing themselves with what provision they wanted.
They crossed the Noxubee at Crawford's bridge, taking with them several citizens as prisoners.
Young John Bryson they took while at Mrs. Augustine's place. He ventured within their lines
with a gun in his hand and a uniform coat on. He is still a prisoner. * * * Mr. Woodfln's
parole we have seen. It is countersigned H. C.Forbes, commanding Co. C, [B, ] 7th Regi-
ment, 111. Vol., U. S. Army * * * There was a very considerable stampede for twenty miles
around in this county, the most of those running striking for the Bigbee to cross over into Ala-
bama, Now that they have disappeared the general impression is that while they were near
town the whole company could have been captured by fifty well organized men under a proper
leader. Mr. Dinsmore rode towards the camp, tied his horse in the woods, and walked to the
quarters and inquired of the negroes if the Federals were there. They said they were in the
house eating supper. Not ten men could be raised about Macon to attack them. At 3:00 o'clock
in the morning 2,000 of our troops came up from Meridian, but they were either not informed of
the presence of the Federal company or did not choose to disturb the repose of our quondam
friends".— Macon S««cow, quoted in Paulding, (Miss.) CTario^i of May 1, 1863.
tSurby, p. 36.
IGrierson's report. R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 524.
§Gen. John Adams reports to Pemberton April 25, that eleven bridges had been burned be-
tween Newton and Meridian. R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 531. See also Appendix, Note B, extract from
the Jackson Appeal .
llPemberton to Gardner, April 24, R. R., 24, pt. I. p. 315.
llPemberton to president of Southern Railroad, April 30, R. R. 24. pt. I. p. 315.
**"So great was the consternation created by this raid that it was impossible to obtain any re-
liable information of the enemy's ipovements, rumor placing him in various places at the same
time."— Lieut. General Pemberton's report on the Vicksburg Campaign, R. R., 24, pt. I, p. 253.
I07
Pemberton first learned of the raid three days after its start,* and
at once placed all the cavalry north of the Meridian road at the dis-
posal of Ruggles and Chalmers. f Buford's infantry brigade, moving
at this time by rail from Chattanooga to Jackson to reinforce Pember-
ton, was stopped by him at Meridian April 22 and ordered up the
road to Ruggles.;]; To intercept the raiders on their return to the
north, after their arrival at Newton Station, Featherston's brigade was
shifted from Fort Pemberton, on the Yazoo, east to Grenada ;§ Tilgh-
man, at Canton, was ordered to mount one of his infantry regiments
and sent half his force to meet Grierson if he came back by Carthage, ||
and Chalmers was ordered across the state from Panola to Okolona,'|
with 1,500 men. Ruggles also distributed his mounted troops to head
off Grierson if he should return through northeast Mississippi.** On
the Meridian line John Adams was moved, with his infantry, cavalry
and artillery, from Jackson east to Morton, Forest and Lake;ft Lor-
ing was ordered to mount as many men as he could along the Mobile
& Ohio road;;];;]; Stevenson, at Vicksburg, was directed to guard the Big
Black river bridge and to keep in readiness for immediate movement
all troops not absolutely necessary to hold his lines ;§§ and the governor
of the state was urged to seize at once horses enough to mount a
regiment of infantry. |||| To prevent an escape of the federal column
to the south, Gardner was ordered, April 24, to send his cavalry from
Port Hudson east towards Tangipahoa,1[T[ on the present Illinois Cen-
tral railroad, and Simonton, at Ponchatoula, received similar orders.***
Even the capital of the state was thought by Pemberton to be endan-
gered, and all possible precautions were taken against its capture. An
appeal was issued to the citizens of the state to arm and organize for
their own defense.ftf John Adams wired, April 25, to Johnston, in
Tennessee,! J I by Pemberton's direction, that Pemberton was "sorely
pressed on all sides," and urgently desired that 2,000 cavalry be sent
from the east to fall on Grierson's rear; and weired also to Buckner,
commanding the department of the gulf: "All is lost unless you can
send a regiment or two to Meridian. General Pemberton directs me
to urge you to send"§§§ — an expression of panic and dismay which
*Pemberton to Johnston, April 29. R. R. 24, pt. Ill, p. 802. Pemberton to Ruggles, April
20, p. 770.
tPemberton's report, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 252.
tPemberton's report, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 253. Pemberton to commandmg officer of troops at
Meridian. April 22, pt. HI, p. 776. Also Pemberton to Thompson, April 22, p. 77/.
"pemberton to Featherston, April 24, R. R. 24, pt. III. p. 782. Pemberton's report, pt. I,
p. 254. Smith to Hurlbut, April 29, pt. I, p. 521.
llPemberton toTilghman, April 24, R. R. 24, pt. III. p. v8d. •, oq „t t ,, C9i
^Pemberton's report, R. R. 24, pt. I, p. 254. Smith to Hurlbut, April 29, pt I, p. 521.
Pemberton to Chalmers, April 24, pt. Ill, p. 781. Pemberton to Johnston, April 26, pt. Ill,
D 789
**Rng'ffies to Memniinerer. May 13, R R. 24, pt. I. p. 561. „ ^ . -i o^
ttpSrtontoAdamI April 24, R. R. 24.pt. Ill, p. 781. Adams to Pemberton, April 26.
p 789. Portis to Memmintfer, April 24, pt. I, p. 546.
llFeTL^r^ 'tVKnsVApril"27.'R" R.1i, Pt. Ill, p. 794. Taylor to Stevenson. April 25,
"^'itZllTol'l^ZT'i'^^^^^^^^^ April 24. pt. Ill,
^" '**^*Pemberton to Simonton, April 24, pt. Ill, p. 782. Simonton to Willson, April 30, p. 553.
+ttPemberton to Pettus, April 25, R. R. 24, pt. Ill, P- ™.
lltAdams to Pemberton, April 25, R. R. 24, pt. I. p. 5rf^.
§i§Adams to Pemberton. April 25, R. R. 24. pt. I. p. Mi.
io8
Pemberton repudiated, however, and ordered Adams to correct.*
In the midst of all this hurry of orders and mustering and march-
ing of men, Grierson's column, exhausted by its tremendous ride, and
with harder riding yet to come, moved slowly south and west on the
24th and 25th, with intervals of rest, and securing one good night's
sleep. f Although the main object of the raid was not fully acconi-
published, its most difficult problem, that of the escape of the command
was still to be solved. In entering the state from the north it had in
its favor all the advantages of a surprise, and could also count on the
enemy's ignorance of the numbers to be met. But surprise was now
no longer possible, and the strength of the invading column had by
this time been more or less correctly ascertained.
Grierson's instructions, as he interpreted them, left him free to plan
his escape according to his own judgment of the circumstances at the
time, a fact due to his immediate superior. General William Sooy
Smith, through whom Hurlbut's directions were transmitted to him.
Hurlbut's written orders to Smith were dated April 10 and April 15,;}:
the first a week and the last two days before the start. In the first he
says : "Your three regiments of cavalry will strike out by the way of
Pontotoc, breaking ofif right and left, commanding both roads [ the
Mississippi Central and the Mobile and Ohio], destroying the wires,
burning provisions and doing all the mischief they can, while one
regiment ranges straight down to Selma or Meridian, breaking the
east and west road thoroughly and sweeping back by Alabama." His
latest order does not specify the line of Grierson's retreat after the
destruction of the Meridian and Jackson road, but nevertheless im-
plies a return to the north by saying, "he may be able to strike Jack-
son or Columbus."
Sooy Smith and Grierson had previously insisted with Hurlbut, in a
conference at Memphis, that it would be far less hazardous for Grier-
son to push on to Baton Rouge after breaking the Meridian road than
to return through Alabama, but Hurlbut did not agree with them
and directed a return to the north. § "This order," Sooy Smith writes
me, II "I received late in an evening. I slept little that night, and in
the morning sent for Grierson and told him to get ready for the raid
as soon as possible. He asked me which plan had been adopted, and
I told him he was to go to Baton Rouge." It was also understood
between them that as soon as Grierson had passed the enemy's lines
beyond the Tallahatchie, his communications with headquarters being
cut ofif, he would have discretionary power.^
♦Pemberton to Adams, April 25, R. R. 24, pt. Ill, p. 785.
+Grierson's report. R. R. 24. pt. I, pp. 525, 526.
tHurlbut to Smith, April 10 and 15. R. R. 24, pt. Ill, pp. 185 and 196.
§1 find an inexplicable inconsistency between Hurlbut's written orders to Smith and his
earlier reports, on the one hand, and his latest statements concerning his orders to Grierson,
on the other. (See Hurlbut's orders to Sooy Smith, April 10, R. R. 24. pt. III, p. 185. Hurlbut
to Halleck, April 18, pt. Ill, p. 207. Hurlbut to Rawlins. April 29. pt. I, p. 519. Hurlbut to
Halleck, April 29. pt. Ill, p. 247. Hurlbut to Lincoln, May 2. pt. Ill, p. 264. Hurlbut to Kel-
ton. May 5, pt. I, p. 520.) That Hurlbut fully expected Grierson to return through Alabama is
shown by his dispatch, April 29, of a relief column of three reyiments under Hatch, from La-
grange toward Okolona and Columbus. (See Hurlbut to Rawlins, April 29, pt. I, p. 519. Sooy
Smith to Hurtbut, April 29, p. 521. Hatch to Morgan, May 5, p. 579.)
llSooy Smith to S. A. Forbes, Nov. 10, 1905. See Appendix, Note A.
HSooy Smith to S. A. Forbes, May 4, 1907. See Note .i.
GEN. BENJAMIN H. GRIERSON.
109
Feeling free, therefore, as he says, "to move in any direction from
this point which in my judg-ment v/ould be best for the safety of my
command and the success of the expedition, I at once decided to move
south, in order to secure the necessary rest and food for men and
horses, and then to return to Lagrange through Alabama or to make
for Baton Rouge, as I might thereafter deem best."* Hearing, how-
ever, on the 25th that a fight was momentarily expected near Grand
Gulf, he decided to make a rapid march in that direction instead, in
the "endeavor to get upon the enemy's flank and cooperate with our
forces should they be successful in the attack upon Grand Gulf and
Port Gibson." f His pursuit of this design carried him west and a
little south to cross the New Orleans and Jackson railroad (now the
Illinois Central) at Hazlehurst, thirty-three miles below Jackson, on
April 2y, and to Union Church, in Jefferson county, by the evening
of the 28th.
Although he was thus riding for four days approximately parallel
to the road along which most of Pemberton's army lay, at distances
varying from fifteen miles at the beginning to forty at the end, his
march was unobstructed by tlie enemy until the 28th. Grierson, in
his official report, speaks, indeed, of a regiment of confederate cav-
alry from Brandon, on the Jackson road, fortunately encountered at
night while headed directly for his own camp near Raleigh, and sent
in the wrong direction by one of his spies \\ and this same body is
referred to in Surby's volume (p. 60) and also in my brother's manu-
script, as a cavalry force of 1,800 men which Company B was so for-
tunate as to evade ; but a careful study of the locations and movements
of the confederate troops on April 26 shows that this was a cavalry
squadron only, headed by Captain R. C. Love, who was ordered by
Pemberton on that day to leave Brandon, § ascertain where Grierson
was, and if at Raleigh, to get on his rear, plant ambush and annoy him.
P'our days later Captain Love and his squadron were still in unsuc-
cessful search of Grierson farther south. ||
It was owing to this midnight apparition of a force supposed to be
dangerous, in his rear, that Grierson began burning all bridges as he
crossed them,^ thus abandoning to its fate Company B of the Seventh,
which he had evidently now given up for lost.
This gallant little party, it will be remembered, we left asleep by
the roadside two and a half miles from Macon, on the night of the
22d. Satisfied, from the reports received, that it could accomplish
nothing in the town itself, it undertook the next day to reach and burn
the railroad bridge over the Noxubee river, a few miles below. But
finding this to be strongly guarded, it marched in the afternoon
towards Philadelphia, where it expected to strike Grierson's trail.
Riding all night, except for two hours' rest at Pleasant Springs, it
*Gr erson's report. Reb. rec, 24. pt. I, p. 525. „ , . t, a i ot
tGrierson's report. Reb. rec. 24, pt. I, p. 525. See also Pemberton to Bowen, April 27.
pt. Ill, p. 792.
tGrierson's report. Reb. rec, 24. pt. I, p. 525.
gPemberton to Love, April 26, Reb. rec. 24, pt. Ill, p. 791
llPemberton to Love, April 28. Reb. rec, 24. pt. Ill, p. 798.
ilGrierson's report. Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 526.
no
reached Philadelphia about noon of the 24th, twenty-one hours after
the column had passed. A skirmish with a company of home guards,
organizing at this place for the pursuit of Grierson, resulted in the
capture and parole of about thirty of them, the destruction of their
firearms, the appropriation of their very welcome dinner, and the rapid
consummation of several horse trades highly advantageous to the
federal company, just then very much in need of a remount. As the
horses of these home guards had been brought together to overtake
Grierson, we gladly took them at their owners' estimate of their fit-
ness for this task — which was also our own.
We traveled always with two or three men, dressed and armed like
confederates, riding some distance in advance, to collect information
from citizens and to give us warning if they saw any signs of a hostile
force. Coming, not far from Philadelphia, to a plantation house by the
roadside, we stopped to feed, the bugle blowing the "halt" as a notice
to this advance. They did not hear the call, however, and rode on
alone. Presently we heard several shots fired far on ahead and knew
that our scouts had met an enemy. Hurriedly mounting, we galloped
down the road, and within about half a mile, as our horses bolted
suddenly to the roadside, we saw one of our men, dead on his back in
the middle of the road. His comrades presently came out of the
brush, one uninjured, the other with a bullet in his arm. Three strag-
glers from the confederate army, who had happened to be at a house
near by, at which the scouts had stopped for information, charged them
— truly enough — with being federal spies. Our men denied the
charge, however, and tried to prolong the argument, expecting every
moment to see us coming to their support, but the confederates finally
fired on them and fled.
It was a serious moment for us, not merely because we had lost a
comrade, but because the men who had killed him were ahead of us
and now knew who and what we were. The guerrilla and the bush-
whacker and the ambush by the roadside, familiar to us from two
years' service in the field, were in all our minds as we rode that day
through the thickety woods, scanning every cover and watchful of
every turn in the road. We were bound to outride this news of us,
and that night we marched without a halt, arriving in the early dawn
at Newton Station, still smoking with the fires which Grierson's men
had kindled. Grierson had spent the night two miles west of Mon-
trose, about nineteen miles to the south and west from Newton, and
he moved the following day only seventeen miles still farther to the
south and west, camping near Leaf river, on the Raleigh road. A ride
of thirty-six miles on the 25th would thus have brought us to his col-
umn. But we had arrived at Newton on the morning of that day,
fully fifteen hours after Grierson's rear had passed. We had gained
but six hours on him by twenty-four hours of steady riding, and it was
evident that it would take us, at this rate, at least two days and nights
more to come up with the column.
When Company B was detached towards Macon, its captain was
told by, the colonel of his regiment, Edward Prince of the Seventh,
who gave him his orders, that it was highly probable, though not cer-
EDWAKD PKINCE,
Colonel Seventh Illinois Cavalry- Second in Command on the Giierson Kaid.
■:m^
Ill
tain, that Grierson, after crossing the Meridian and Jackson road,
would swing- eastward into Alabama and return to the north through
that state ; and all information of his movements obtainable at Newton
Station confirmed this belief. He had certainly gone on to Garland-
ville, nine miles south, and it was the prevailing report that he had
also reached Baldwyn and Quitman, still farther south and east — the
last a station on the Mobile and Ohio road. These facts suggested to
Captain Forbes the very sensible plan of cutting ofif the southward
loop which Grierson was believed to be making, by turning directly
east from Newton, crossing the Mobile and Ohio at Enterprise, which
he was repeatedly told was without defenders, and joining Grierson
beyond the railroad as he passed up to the north.
In pursuance of this plan we took the Enterprise road, and reached
the outskirts of that town about i :oo o'clock. What seemed a mounted
picket on the main road, driven in by a few shots from our advance,
suggested that the place might indeed be occupied, and as the head of
our little column entered one of the streets of the town it was fired on
from a stockade about the station. Halting for a moment to consider
his course, the captain quickly drew his saber, fastened a handkerchief
to its point, and ordering the first file of four to follow him, he and his
first lieutenant rode slowly down in the direction of the stockade, wav-
ing the handkerchief as a flag of truce. The firing presently ceased,
and three confederate officers rode out to meet them, one of whom,
carrying a white flag at the end of an infantry ramrod, inquired, "To
what are we indebted for the honor of this visit?" 'T come from
Major-General Grierson," answered Captain Forbes, "to demand the
surrender of Enterprise." "Will you put the demand in writing?"
"Certainly. To whom shall I address it?" "To Colonel Edward Good-
win, commanding the post." This was the information sought for.
Enterprise was an occupied post. The demand vv^as written, giving
"one hour only for consideration, after which further delay will be at
your peril." To the officer's question where he might be found at the
end of the hour. Captain Forbes answered with, no doubt, unintended
humor, that he would "fall back to the main body and there await the
reply."* Then rejoining his company, he quietly turned his column
to the right about and moved deliberately up the slope until out of
sight of town, when, striking a gallop, we rode rapidly on until a safe
distance had been reached.
Enterprise was, in fact, unoccupied until just before we reached it,
when the Thirty-fifth Alabama Infantry arrived by train from the
south. During the hour allowed for the surrender Major General
Loring also came in from Meridian with the Seventh Kentucky and
the Twelfth Louisiana,! and at the expiration of the truce these three
regiments marched out to offer battle to the thirty-five men of Com-
pany B. There could be no doubt that we had done our full duty, for
that day at least, in holding the attention of the enemy to the defense
of the Mobile and Ohio road.
*This account of the demand for the surrender of Enterprise is taken from the manuscript
of Col. Forbes. The writer was a witness of the transaction but remained with the company.
tSee Note B. extract from the Jackson Appeal of April. 28, 1863.
112
In Pemberton's report to the war department, prepared some three
months afterwards, is the statement that General Loring, by his timely
arrival at Enterprise from Meridian with a sufficient force of infantry,
succeeded in saving the machinery and other valuable property at that
town, upon which the enemy had advanced with a demand for its sur-
render;* and Major-General Loring reports in a dispatch to Pember-
ton, dated at Enterprise April 25 :f "Enemy appeared here at i :oo
o'clock and demanded the town. They were reported as fifteen hun-
dred strong. Colonel Goodwin was here with the Thirty-fifth Ala-
bama, which defied them. I hastened here with two regiments.
Enemy fallen back at least three miles. I am now on the road pursu-
ing them."
It was fortunate indeed for us that Goodwin reached Enterprise
before we did ourselves, for we were moving then directly opposite
to Grierson's actual line of retreat, and if we had crossed the Mobile
and Ohio road in search of him, we should unquestionably have been
captured or broken up. As it was, we had lost, by this attempt to
shorten our ride, much more than we had gained the preceding day,
and we were beginning to despair of overtaking Grierson. A consul-
tation was quietly held among the leading officers as we rode along.
Which way should we go? Should we try to return to Lagrange
alone ? Should we go towards Vicksburg in the hope of getting
through to Grant, who might by this time be on our side of the river?
Should we try our luck on a march of some hvmdreds of miles to Pen-
sacola, on the Gulf, then held by federal troops ? Should we even break
up and scatter, riding north by twos and threes, in the hope that,
though some might be taken, the rest would escape? Or should we
return to Grierson's trail and make another efifort, under new disad-
vantages, at a direct pursuit ? We stood three to one for the last
alternative, and so we kept on for Garlandville, which we reached at
dusk. As we approached the town our scouts came upon a mounted
sentinel, one of a company of sixty men just organized there, well
armed and determined to fight if the federals came again that way.
He was informed that we were a company of confederates from
Mobile, ourselves in pursuit of Grierson, and he considerately rode
on in advance, at our suggestion, to advise his comrades of that fact,
lest they should mistake us for federals and should fire on us in the
dusk. By this ruse we rode without disturbance through the town,
although it contained twice our number of armed enemies.
Following now on Grierson's trail once more, we stopped about mid-
night for four hours' sleep on the lawn about a planter's house, well
off the main road, with only one man on guard. It was a carelessly
fastened horse, however, which really kept watch for us. Becoming
entangled in his halter strap, he pulled down the rail fence to which
he was tied, with a crash which wakened the solitary sentinel, who
had gone to sleep with his gun in his hands.
♦Pemberton's final report. Reb. rec 24, pt. I, p. 253.
tLoring to Pemberton, April 25, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 544. See aiso Buford to Pemberton,
April 25, p. 538.
"3
After a rapid breakfast by the light of our camp fires we started for
the hardest and most discouraging ride of the raid. Approaching
Raleigh, we repeated in substance the exploit at Philadelphia, surpris^
mg, by a headlong charge, a company of home guards which had
gathered at the village inn, breaking up their guns and taking their
captain with us as a prisoner. We were now but seven or eight hours
behind the regiment, and hope began to dawn, when we came to a
stream swollen with recent rains. Th^ column had crossed on a
bridge, which was now a wreck of blackened timbers. Grierson had
given us up as lost and was burning his bridges behind him. Five
times that day we swam our horses across overflowing streams, and
once were compelled to make a long detour to find a place where we
could get into the water and out again.
And then a greater danger loomed ahead of us. Some thirty or
forty miles farther on was Strong river, and a few miles beyond that
the Pearl, neither of which we could hope to ford or swim ; and we
were losing time, by reason of the burned bridges, instead of gaining
on Grierson. Some way must be found to reach him before h(e
destroyed Strong river bridge or we were lost; and so the captain
called for volunteers to ride on and overtake the column. Three of us,
who answered the call* mounted on the best and freshest horses of
the company, leaving our arms and all encumbrances behind except-
ing only a pistol apiece and a few loose cartridges in our pockets, left
the company at a gallop at about 5 :oo o'clock in the afternoon. Cap-
tain Forbes says, in his posthumous manuscript: "I never expected
to see one of them again, feeling sure that they would be picked ofif
by stragglers." A few miles on the way we saw a group of saddled
horses in the brush, a little distance from the road, with no riders in
sight. We listened for shots as we hurried by, but they did not come.
A little after sundown the trail we were following simply stopped in
a grassy field and went no farther. Puzzled at first, we presently sus-
pected a countermarch, and following the trail back through the thick-
ening dusk about half a mile, we found where it branched ofl: to the
left. If we had been a little later we should have been completely lost.
Black night now fell, with drizzling rain, and we dismounted now and
then to make sure, by feeling the road, that we were still on the track
of the regiments. And by and by we began to hear through the trees
faint sounds of a marching column a mile or so ahead. Pushing our
tired horses to their best, we presently drew near Grierson's rear guard.
"Halt! Who comes there?" some one called out to us. Ignoring the
command, we did not slaken our speed, but answered the challenge
as we rode by with a shout of "Company B." Instantly a great cheer
arose, "Company B has come back," and, caught up by the rear com-
pany, it ran down the column, cheer upon cheer, faster than our
horses could run. Great was our welcome when we reached Grierson,
just as his horse's hoofs were rattling on Strong river bridge, and
repeated to him the vigorous message committed to us: "Captain
Forbes presents his compliments, and begs to be allowed to burn his
* First Sergeant S. A. Forbes and Privates John Moulding and Arthur Woods.
—8 H S
114
bridges for himself." A detail had already been told off to burn the
one we were on, and half an hour later we should have been too late.
In the meantime difficulties were thickening around the march of
the company we had left. Stopping at .sunset to feed, a citizen who
professed to know which way Grierson had gone, offered to guide
them by a short cut through the woods which would save them several
miles of travel. Whether he was blundering or treacherous they never
certainly knew, but he led them after dark into an old tornado
track, or windfall, as it is called ; and there, twisting and turning, this
way and that, through the tangle of fallen tree trunks, they lost, not
only their way, but all sense of direction likewise. Some of the men
begged, in his hearing, to be allowed to kill the guide, and terror re-
duced him to temporary idiocy. There was nothing to do but to
bivouac in the rain and wait for morning to come. Every one went
to sleep, guards and all, and when the captain awoke at dawn, their
guide had abandoned them and their prisoners had escaped, bearing
with them, of course, news of the company's numbers, whereabouts,
and predicament. By a rapid scout after daylight they discovered the
trail of the column, and once more rode steadily, on in the hope that
their messengers of the day before had not failed in their mission.
About the the middle of the afternoon of that day, April 27, the com-
pany reached Strong river and found there a detachment of their regi-
ment, left behind to guard the bridge and await their coming. Com-
pany B had rejoined the main command.
It was absent from the column five days and four nights, during
which time it marched about three hundred miles in ten different
counties and kept the attention of the enemy fixed on the defense of
the Mobile and Ohio road. It captured and paroled forty prisoners,
confronted and evaded several regiments of confederate troops at
Macon and at Enterprise, slipped through the home guards of six
county towns, was twice misled and once lost, and had five bridges
burned in its front, and in three successive nights it had in all but six
hours' sleep, while rations for man and horse were, for the most part,
conspicuous by their abscence. We simply had not had time to eat.
The main body was still engaged, on April 27, in crossing Pearl
river by means of a single small ferry-boat captured in the nick of time
by a shrewd stratagem* the night before. When Grierson stopped on the
evening of the 26th two miles beyond Westville for about two hours'
rest, he sent Colonel Prince with two battalions of his regiment for-
ward to the Pearl river ferry to secure the crossing of the column by
the only means available. Arriving before daylight. Prince found that
the ferry-boat was on the opposite side of the stream. An attempt to
secure it by sending a man across on a powerful horse failed because
the swollen stream was too swift to swim, but a little later the owner,
strolling down to the river and seeing a group of horsemen on the
bank, called out to them to know if they wished to cross. In a pro-
nounced form of the southern dialect, made more convincing by a mili-
tary oath, Colonel Prince demanded his boat to carry over a detach-
*Surby, p. 64.
115
ment of the First Alabama Cavalry in pursuit of conscripts. The ferry-
man hurried the boat over to our side of the stream, and the crossing
at once began. Half an hour later a confederate courier appeared with
orders to the ferryman to destroy his boat to prevent its falling into
Grierson's hands.* Grossing twenty-four horses at a trip, Prince went
with the first 200 men to seize Hazlehurst, on the New Orleans and
Jackson road. Grierson's men, in the meantime, worked their passage
over the Pearl, the rear guard crossing, along with Company B, about
2:00 p. m. of the 27th.
It was on the afternoon of the 28th, while approaching Union
Church, that Grierson first found his march resisted; and here a dan-
gerously complicated situation developed, from which all parties con-
cerned escaped with remarkably good luck. Great destruction of roll-
ing stock, ammunition, stores and railroad track had been wrought at
Hazlehurst as the column passed on the preceding day,t and a bat-
talion was sent back the next morning under Lt. Col. Trafton, of the
Seventh, to destroy the road at Bahala a few miles further south. J
At 2 :oo p. m. of this day Grierson was attacked at Union Church by
three companies of -cavalry, which had come out from Natchez under
Captain Cleveland; J and Wirt Adams, making a forced march from
Port Gibson, under Pemberton's orders of the preceding day,§ with
four more cavalry companies and two pieces of artillery, came into the
Natchez road that same afternoon, in Grierson's rear.|| While follow-
ing him up after dark with a view to a night attack. Adams's own
rear was encountered by the battalion sent to Bahala earlier in the
day, and now marching to rejoin Grierson.Tf Both federal and
confederate, were thus cut in two, each by the other, and both Grier-
son and Adams were in a sense, between two fires. Adams was in
the greater danger, however, because either section of the federal
column was stronger than his own command, and so he rode in the
night past Grierson's flank and joined Cleveland in his front.
It was no part of Grierson's plan to wait anywhere for anything —
not even to fight — for the moment he did so his position would be-
come a rallying point for all confederate forces, near and far. The
next morning, consequently, after moving strongly out on the Natchez
road to create the impression that he was about to force his way
through, he suddenly reversed ; his movement, took a labyrinthine
course, by unfrequented roads, to the rear, and by night was below
Brookhaven, on the New Orleans and Jackson railroad, some forty
miles away.** Wirt Adams, in the meantime, had fallen back before
Grierson's advance in the morning, to Fayette, where, reinforced by
five more companies, he awaited an attack, ff One can imagine the
♦Grierson's report. R.R., 24, pt. I. p. 526.
tGrierson's report. Reb. rec, 24, pt. I. p. 526.
iGrierson's report. Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 526.
§Pemberton to Bo wen, April 27, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 792.
llWirt Adams to Pemberton, April 29, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I. p. 533. Cleveland to operator
at Fayette, April 28, p. 538.
HGrierson's report. Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 526. Surby, pp. 78—94.
♦♦Grierson's report. Reb. rec, 24. pt. I, pp. 526, 527.
ttGeneral Grierson, who is living now at Jacksonville, 111., lately told the writer that he
made use of a captured citizen to convey to Colonel Adams information of his intention to tight
his way through to Natchez. This gentleman, temporarily detained at headquarters, was per-
mitted' to overhear conversations and orders, made merely to deceive him, all implying a march
for Natchez the next morning; and later a guard, instructed to be negligent, permitted him to
slip away and escape.
ii6
chagrin with which this bold and energetic cavalry leader dispatched
the facts to Pemberton that afternoon, expressing his intention to
march at once to intercept Grierson on his way to Baton Rouge,* an
intention which, indeed, he came near accomplishing, but in which he
finally failed, owing to the start we had gained and to the extraor-
dinary speed with which our last march was made.f
The next day, the 30th, was a hard day, for the New Orleans and
Jackson railroad — now the Illinois Central — which was about as badly
wrecked from BrookhavenJ to Summit, a distance of twenty-one
miles, as any road could well be in so short a time.§ This was the
day on which the advance of Grant's army, under McClernand, crossed
the Mississippi to Bruinsburg for the attack on Port Gibson, made on
the first of May. If Grierson had pressed forward on his march to-
wards Grand Gulf, he might have joined McClernand at Port Gibson,
then distant only thirty miles, provided that he had beaten Wirt
Adams's ten companies of cavalry and section of artillery in his front,
together with the reinfoi'cements that might have come to them on the
way. He had heard nothing from Grant, however, and had no means
of knowing that McClernand was to come to our side of the Missis-
sippi on the following day.
In the meantime confusion ruled the councils of our enemies. Inter-
ruption of communications by the destruction at Hazlehurst on the
27th II had left Pemberton in doubt as to Grierson's course, and he
vacillated, consequently, in his conjectures, between Grand Gulf,
Jackson, Natchez, and Baton Rouge. On the 27th he notified Bowen,
at Port Gibson, that Grierson might be making for Grand Gulf to fall
on his rear ; and again that Port Gibson or Black River bridge was his
most probable destination.^ On the 28th he wrote Bowen again
that he had reason to believe that Grierson was striking for Natchez or
Baton Rouge;** to Major Clark that the enemy might pay the con-
federates a visit at Brookhaven ;tt to Rhodes, at Osyka, that Grierson
was probaby makng for Baton Rouge or Natchez J J to Gardner, at
Port Hudson, that he was probably en route for Natchez, but that
measures should be taken to ambuscade him if he was on his way to
Baton Rouge.§§ He gave orders to Bowen at Grand Gulf, to send
his cavalrv out to get on Grierson's flank and rear ;|| || to the command-
* Wirt Adams to Pemberton, April 29, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 533.
tOn the night of April 30, Wirt Adams was within five miles of Grierson's bivouac. (See
page 118.)
+It fell to the writer, acting- under orders from Col. Prince, to burn the railway station at
Brookhaven, containing a considerable Quantity of commissary stores reported to us to be con-
federate property. The flames and sparks from the station building greatly endangered neigh-
boring dwellings, but these were saved and a general conflagration was prevented by our owe
soldiers, who climbed to the roofs of the houses and kept them wet by pouring water over them
until the fire had burned down.
§Grierson's report. Reb. rec, 24, pt. I. p. 527.
PPemberton to Bowen, April 28. Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 797.
UPemberton to Bowen, April 27. Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 792.
**Pemberton to Bowen, April 28, R. R., 24, pt. III. p. 797.
t+Pemberton to Clark, April 28. Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 798.
UPemberton to Rhodes, April 28. Reb.. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 799.
gfPemberton to Gardner, April, 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 798.
Ill' Pemberton to Bowen, April 27, R. R., 24, pt. Ill, p. 792. Pemberton to Stevenson, April
27. Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 794.
117
ing officers at Brookhaven,* Hazlehurst,t and Osykaf to send their
troops as rapidly as possible towards Grand Gulf; to Capt. William
Wren, at Monticello, to learn the position of the enemy and to ambus-
cade and annoy him, particularly in his camp at night (R, R. Pt. Ill;
P- 793) ; to Colonel Russel, at Jackson, to have his three mounted com-
panies ready to move, with five days' rations, at 9 p. m. ;J to Colonel
Reynolds, § to Colonel Farrell,|| at Lake Station, to General Loring^
at Meridian, and to General Tilghman** to bring their commands to
Jackson; and to Ruggles at Columbus,ff to be on the watch for fed-
eral forces coming south — although he had ordered Barteau, the pre-
ceding day, to come down from northeast Mississippi to Hazlehurst,
on the New Orleans and Jackson road.|t Wholly uncertain as to
Grierson's objective point, he thus tried to guard all points at once,
as well as he could with his small and scattered forces ; and reiterated
to his cavalry commanders the orders to get on the flank and rear of
the federal column, in the evident hope of so delaying its march as
to enable him to concentrate against it a superior force. §§ All was in
vain, however, and the flying column sped on its way untouched, and
almost unseen, by its swarming enemies.
And now we approach the second crisis of the raid, the event of
which was to show whether or not its brilliant success had been won at
a cost of the loss of the raiding force. It was the first day of May.
Six days before, and three times thereafter, Gardner, at Port Hudson,
had been warned by Pemberton to prepare to capture Grierson if he
should attempt to go through to Baton Rouge. 1 1 The focus of danger
was Williams' bridgeTf^f across the Amite river, directly east of Port
Hudson, and only some thirty miles from Gardner's army. If this
bridge, over an unfordable stream which must be crossed to reach
Baton Rouge, were either destroyed or held, the hunt was up and the
raiders would probably be bagged ; and when, at Summit, on the 30th,
Grierson finally decided to make the dash for Baton Rouge,*** he was
even then more than twice as far from the Amite river bridge as was
Gardner at Port Hudson.
The southern part of the State was now swarming with cavalry
troops — sent northeast from Port Hudson,f f f sent south by rail from
Jackson and Meridan,;j:JJ coming north from Ponchatoula,§§§ and
speeding diagonally down from Natchez and Port Gibson. || || || As early
♦Pemberton to Clark, April 28, Reb. rec. 24, pt. Ill, p. 798.
tPemberton to Commanding Officer of Cavalry. April 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 798.
iTaylor to Russell, April 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 799.
§Pemberton to Reynolds, April 28. Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 799.
II Pemberton to Farrell, April 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 798.
llPemberton to Loring. April 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 798.
**Pemberton to Tilghman, April 28. Reb. rec. 24, pt. CII, p. 800.
t+Pemberton to Ruggles, April 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 799.
tlPemberton to Reynolds, April 27, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 794.
§§Pemberton's orders to Bowen, Clark, commanding officer of cavalry. Porter, Powell and
Rhodes, April 28. Reb. rec, 24, pt. III. pp. 797-799.
II II Pemberton to Gardner, April 24. Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 782. April 25, pt. Ill, p. 786.
April 27, pt. Ill, p. 793. April28, pt. Ill, p. 798.
miGrierson's report, Reb. rec, 24. pt. I, p. 527. GarLind to WiUson, May 1, pt. I, p. 543.
***Grierson's report, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 527.
tttDe Baun to WiUson, May 6, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 539.
tiJRichardson to Pemberton, May 3, reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p.547.
§§§Simonton to Willson, April 30, reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p, 553.
IlllllWirt Adams to Pemberton. May 5, reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 533.
ii8
as the 28th, before Grierson had reached Union Church, eleven compan-
ies were operating along the New Orleans and Jackson Road above
Osyka.* A legion of infantry, with artillery, left Port Hudson on
the 29th, the day Grierson passed Brookhaven, but committed the error
of moving northeast to Clinton, and thence still northeast to Osyka,
which it reached on the first day of May,f after Grierson had passed.^
Richardson, coming down from the north by rail with 470 men, and
leaving the cars at Hazlehurst on the 29th followed Grierson's trail
to Union Church, and back again to Brookhaven, and then, riding all
night, planned an attack on Grierson at Summit for the morning of
May I, but, entering this place at three a. m., he found himself nine
hours too late. Thence he rode on — past Grierson's flank as he sup-
posed, to get in his front — and formed an ambuscade at sunrise in the
woods by the side of the road, between Summit and Magnolia, only to
learn at nine o'clock that his enemy had spent the night a dozen miles
to the west.§ Wirt Adams, in the meantime, leaving Fayette on the
afternoon of the 28th and following on our trail, had camped on this
same night of the 30th, ten miles from vSummit, on the Liberty road||
— evidently about five miles from Grierson's own camp. He is said
to have sent Lieutenant Wren forward with orders to burn Williams'
bridge across the Amite, || with the intention of following on himself
the next day to cut off the federal column at that point.
Only two of all these swarming cavalry commands succeeded in
reaching Grierson's line of march in advance of Grierson himself. To
Major J. DeBaun, of the Ninth Louisiana Partisan Rangers (Wing-
field's battalion) belongs the honor of having planted himself in
the way of the advancing column and made a bold attempt to delay its
march. Leaving Port Hudson April 28, under orders from General
Gardner,1[ he went at first north to Woodville, and being then ordered
east to Osyka, he started for that point on the morning of the 30th, and
reached a bridge over the Tickfaw river, locally known as Wall's
bridge, about eight miles from his place of destination, at 1 1 :30 a.
m. of May the first.** While he was halting to rest his men and
horses, Grierson's column, which had struck the road behind him at
about ten o'clock, came upon his rear guard at this bridge, ff Some
firing upon foragers from his command warned him of Grierson's ap-
proach, and gave him time to place his 115 men in ambush in the woods
beyond the bridge. While a squad of our scouts, dressed in citizen's
clothing and riding some distance in advance, were beguiling and cap-
turing De Baun's rear guard, by whom they were supposed to be con-
federates, Lieutenant-Colonel Blackburn, of the Seventh Illinois, im-
patient of delay, came galloping down alone, and ordering the scouts
*Pemberton to Bowen, April 28, Reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 797.
tMiles's legion reached the Tickfaw river at Wall's bridge, five hours after Grierson had
gone on. A wounded Federal soldier, who saw it pass his window, estimated its strength at
three hundred cavalry, two thousand infantry, and a battery of artillery. (Surby, p. 153.)
IGardner to Pemberton, April 28, Reb. rec, pt. I, p. 542. Miles to Willson, May 5, pt. I, p.
545. Willson to Gardner, Special Orders, No. 121, April 29, pt. Ill, p. 805.
§Richardson to Pemberton, May 3, Reb. rec. 24, pt. I, p. 548.
Richardson to Pemberton, Mav 3, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 549.
TWillson, Special Orders, No. 120, April 28, reb. rec, 24, pt. Ill, p. 800.
**De Baun to Willson, May 6, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 539.
ttSurby. p. 104, fl.
119
to follow him, dashed upon the bridge. This drew the fire of the se-
creted party, not more than fifty yards away. The colonel fell mortally
wounded, and the leader of the scouts was shot through the thigh.
Grierson's advance guard of a dozen men also charged across the
bridge, but were driven back by a volley, leaving one killed and two
wounded behind them. Two of Grierson's companies were thereupon
dismounted, two cannon were brought up, and DeBaun's force was
soon dislodged, and sent flying to Osyka, which place it reached at five
p. m. The federal loss at this, the most important skirmish of the raid,
was one man killed and five men wounded — two of them mortally — and
three men left as volunteer prisoners, to care for their wounded com-
rades.* De Baun's own loss was a captain, lieutenant, and six men,
all taken prisoners. f
Half a dozen miles farther down, a company of Mississippi cavalry
which was about to enter the road in front of the column was at-
tacked by our advance and presently driven off.;]: Major W. H. Gar-
land, who was in charge of this party, makes the surprising statement,
in his report of the skirmish, that he lost about seventy men, and that
his horses were "all broke down."§ These losses must have occurred
after the fighting was over.
In this exciting and somewhat ominous manner the long last ride
began. When we started that morning at early dawn from our bivouac
between Summit and Liberty, we were seventy-six miles from Baton
Rouge,! and it was not in any one's mind that we should halt for
either food or rest before a place of safety had been reached. Even a
little fight may mean a long delay, and delays just then were peculiarly
dangerous. And so, with the speed of the horses set at the highest
pace which they were likely to be able to keep to the end, we forged
ahead, not so much to defeat as merely to outride our enemies. And
still we had to pass the Amite river bridge, which might be held by a
superior force, for all that we knew, or it might already be burned.
From our right, as we approached it, there came to our ears from time
to time, through the moonless night, the dull boom of a big gun, giving
us the direction of Port Hudson, then being bombarded by the federal
mortar-boats. We knew that there had lately been a picket at the
Amite bridge, with its headquarters at a plantation half a mile away.
Was this picket post still there, and would they learn of our approach
and set fire to the bridge? About twelve o'clock we were in its im-
mediate neighborhood, and the advance dashed down. A single horse-
man was moving quietly southward from the bridge, towards the lights
of the premises said to be the headquarters of the guard. They had
not even suspected our approach; and in a few minutes, just as the
moon rose to light us on our way, the muffled thunder of our horses'
feet resounded from its entire length.
♦Grierson's report. Reb. rec. , 24, pt. I, p. 527. Surby, p. 112.
tDe Baun to Willson. May 6, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 540.
tDe Baun to Willson, May 6, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I. p. 540. Surby, p. 114.
SGarland to Willson, May 1, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 543.
llGrierson'9 report, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 528.
120
We were over the Amite, and the worst crisis of the raid was past.
All the more heavily, as the excitement of danger died away, there
settled down on the hearts of the raiders the overwhelming sense of
hunger and fatigue. There were still some thirty miles to ride before
we might halt to eat and rest, and I am sure that no one who rode them
will ever forget that night. It was the painful duty of the rear guard
of the column not only to keep alert themselves but also to keep the
men from straggling. The captain of that company says : "Men by the
score, and I think by fifties, were riding sound asleep in their saddles.
The horses excessively tired and hungry, would stray out of the road
and thrust their noses to the earth in hopes of finding something to
eat. The men, when addressed, would remain silent and motionless
until a blow across the thigh or the shoulder should awaken them, when
it would be found that each supposed himself still riding with his com-
pany, which might perhaps be a mile ahead. We found several men
who had either fallen from their horses, or dismounted and dropped
on the ground, dead with sleep. Nothing short of a beating with the
flat of a saber would awaken some of them. In several instances they
begged to be allowed to sleep, saying that they would run all risk of
capture on the morrow. Two or three did escape our vigilance, and
were captured the next afternoon.*
While the rear of the column was thus drifting along through the
night, more than half asleep, the advance, probably two miles in the
lead, had its welcome aids to wakefulness in the complete surprise and
capture of two confederate camps, each with about forty men — one at
the crossing of the Big Sandy, and the other at a ford of the Comite,
only a few miles out from our destination, f
Between eight and nine o'clock we were met by a cavalry company
scouting out from Baton Rouge to learn the meaning of a rumor which
had reached their camp that an important force was nearing the city.
They knew nothing whatever of the raid, and were slow to believe our
tale, as was also General Augur, then in command of the post. It was
not until we had been in bivouac three hours ,and after Grierson had
visited post headquarters, that we were admitted to the federal lines
and to the protection of the flag. As we rode at last through Baton
Rouge, the streets were banked for a mile or more on either side with
cheering crowds of citizens of the town and the soldiers of Augur's
army, and the wayworn but triumphant column was brought to bivouac
in a beautiful magnolia grove to the south of the city. It was pathetic-
ally significant of the stress and strain of the long hard ride, particu-
larly on those responsible in any way for its successful issue, that the
hero of the Enterprise episode, the captain of Company B of the Sev-
enth, went suddenly delirious the next morning, as he lay resting by
his camp fire, and was taken with cautious violence to the post hospital,
tearing the curtains from the ambulance on the way, and swearing that
we might kill him if we would but we could never take him prisoner.
And now the raid thus briefly described, it only remains for me to
quote, from ofiicial reports, federal and confederate, a few comments
*MSS. of Col. H. C. Forbes.
tGrierson's report, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I. pp.527, 528. Bryan to Miles, May 10, Reb. rec, 24,
pt. I, p. 537.
121
on its methods and on some of its more general results. Colonel Wirt
Adams, who, it will be remembered, was left in the lurch by Grierson,
at Fayette, April 29, wrote to Pemberton May 5 :* "I pursued the
cavalry to a point near Greensburg, in Louisiana, near which they
forded the Amite river and made good their escape to Baton Rouge.
Notwithstanding I marched over fifty miles per day, and moved during
day and night, yet owing to the distance I had to traverse from west
to east to reach the line of their march, and to their use of the most
skillful guides and unfrequented roads, I found it impossible, to my
great mortification and regret, to overhaul them. During the last
twenty-four hours of their march in this state they traveled at a sweep-
ing gallop, the numerous stolen horses previously collected furnishing
them relays." Lieutenant-Colonel Gannt, who also failed in the pur-
suit, writes. May 4:f "The enemy managed so as to completely deceive
the citizens and our scouts as to his purposes, and, by a march of al-
most unprecedented rapidity, moved off by the Greensburg road to
Baton Rouge." Colonel E. V. Richardson, another failure in pursuit,
says, May 3 :J "He has made a most successful raid through the
length of the state of Mississippi and a part of Louisiana, one which
will exhilarate for a short time the fainting spirits of the northern
war party;" and General Pemberton says in his final report :§ "The
enemy * * ^- succeeded in destroying several miles of the track
of the Southern Railroad west of Chunkey river, which, for more than
a week, greatly delayed the transportation of troops, and entirely pre-
vented that of supplies (except by wagons) from our depots on the
Mobile and Ohio Railroad."
Grierson himself says of the raid:|| "During the expedition we
killed and wounded about 100 of the enemy, captured and paroled over
500 prisoners, many of them officers, destroyed between 50 and 60
miles of railroad and telegraph, captured and destroyed over 3,000
stands of arms, and other army stores and government property to an
immense amount; and also captured 1,000 horses and mules. * * *
We marched over six hundred miles in less than sixteen days. The
last twenty-eight hours we marched seventy-six miles, had four en-
gagements with the enemy, and forded the Comite river, which was
deep enough to swim many of the horses. During this time the men
and horses were without food or rest."
General Grant says, May 3:^ "Colonel Grierson's raid from La-
grange through Mississippi has been the most successful thing of the
kind since the breaking out of the Rebellion. * * * * The south-
. ern papers and southern people regard it as one of the most daring ex-
ploits of the war. I am told the whole state is filled with men paroled
by Grierson." And again, May 6:** "He has spread excitement
*Adams to Pemberton, May 5, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 533.
tGannt to Willson, May 4, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 540.
tRichardson to Pemberton. May 3, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 550.
§Pemberton's report, Reb. rec. 24. pt. I, p. 253.
II Grierson's report, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I. p. 528.
llGrant to Halleck, May 3, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. S3.
**Grant to Halleck, May 6, Reb. rec, 24, pt. I, p. 34.
122
throughout the state, destroying railroads, trestleworks, bridges, burn-
ing locomotives and railway stock, taking prisoners, and destroying
stores of all kinds. To use the expression of my informant, 'Grierson
has knocked the heart out of the state.' " And finally, July 6, in his
report to the War Department on the^ Vicksburg campaign, he
writes:* "In accordance with previous instructions, Major-General
S. A. Hurlbut started Colonel (now Brigadier-General) B. H. Grier-
son with a cavalry force from Lagrange, Tennessee, to make a raid
through the central portion of the state of Mississippi, to destroy rail-
roads and other public property, for the purpose of creating a diversion
in favor of the army moving to the attack on Vicksburg. * * *
This expedition was skillfully conducted, and reflects great credit on
Colonel Grierson and all of his command. The notice given this raid
by the southern press confirms our estimate of its importance. It has
been one of the most brilliant cavalry exploits of the war, and will be
handed down in history as an example to be imitated."
Long may it be before it falls to an American soldier to imitate this
feat of war; but it seems to fall particularly to this society to hand it
down in history.
Appendix.
NOTE A.
Inception of Plans and Preliminary Orders for the Raid. — Various
plans for a raid similar to the one finally decided on were suggested in
February and March, 1863, after the withdrawal of Van Dorn's com-
mand from Northern Mississippi late in January left the confederate
railroads of that part of the state comparatively unprotected. The first
recorded mention of an expedition of this kind was made to General
Hurlbut by General C. S. Hamilton, writing at Memphis February 12:
"It is the time to strike the Vicksburg and Jackson Road. I would
recommend that a brigade of cavalry move from Lagrange around the
headwaters of the Tallahatchie and Yalabusha, making as much of
a demonstration as possible about Pontotoc ; then the main body to re-
tire, and a single regiment, under a dashing leader — say, Hatch — move
to the south as rapidly as possible, taking fresh horses from the coun-
try, and push night and day direct for Jackson. * * * * xhe
bridge over the Pearl river could be destroyed, as well as all the rail-
road shops and rolling stock, and a dash made at the Big Black river
bridge, which, if destroyed, will completely isolate Vicksburg from the
interior. After getting round the headwaters of the Yalabusha, the
route should be as nearly as possible along the line of the Mississippi
Central Road." (R. R., Ser. I., Vol. 24, Pt. III., p. 45.)
A similar idea had occurred to General Grant, who wrote to Hurlbut
from Lake Providence, La., February 13 : "It seems to me that Grier-
*Grant to Keltoii, Tuly 6, Reb. rec. ' 24, pt. I, p. 58.
123
son, with about 500 picked men, might succeed in making his way
south and cut the railroad east of Jackson, Miss. The undertaking
would be a hazardous one, but it would pay well if carried out. I do
not direct that this shall be done, but leave it for a volunteer enter-
prise." (R. R., Sen I., Vol. 24, Pt. III., p. 50.)
Hamilton's proposal was followed up by HurllDut in a letter to Raw-
lins (Grant's adjutant-general) written February 16, evidently before
he had received Grant's own letter of three days' earlier date. After
reporting Van Dorn's withdrawal from his front with four brigades
of cavalry and two batteries, he continues : "As I am satisfied this will
remove all cavalry from our front, at the suggestion of General
Hamilton, I have ordered Grierson's brigade to cross the headwaters
of the Tallahatchie to the Yalabusha, by way of Pontotoc, cut the wires,
destroy bridges and demonstrate in that neighborhood, while the Second
Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Hatch, pushes night and day toward the main
road between Meridian and Vicksburg, if possible to destroy the
bridge across Pearl river, in rear of Jackson, and do as much damage
as possible on that line, returning by the best course they can make. It
appears perilous, but I think it can be done and done with safety, and
may relieve you somewhat at Vicksburg." (R. R., Ser. I., Vol. 24,
Pt. III., p. 58.)
In consequence of information received, February 20, of the pres-
ence of considerable bodies of confederate troops in central Mississippi,
Hamilton suspended this movement, and Hurlbut, acquiescing, so re-
ported to Grant. (R. R., Ser. I., Vol 24, Pt. III., pp. 62 and 63.)
March 9 General Grant expressed a qualified disapproval of this post-
ponement, saying, "I regret that the expedition you had fitted out was
not permitted to go. The weather, however, has been so intolerably
bad ever since that it might have failed." In the same connection he
described a plan of his own for a raid to start from Lagrange, under
Grierson — "as being much better qualified to command this expedition
than either Lee or Mizner" — to cut the railroad east of Jackson, af-
terward rejoining a still larger force which should operate in the mean-
time against the Mobile and Ohio Road. (R. R., I., 24, Pt. III., p. 95.)
A somewhat similar scheme had meanwhile been discussed by the
two officers most concerned in its execution. General William Sboy
Smith, commander, at the time, of the First Division of Hurlbut's Six-
teenth Army Corps, and Colonel B. H. Grierson in command of the
First Cavalry Brigade, both these officers having their headquarters at
Lagrange. Smith's plan, although directed to the same end as the
others, differed from them especially in the fact that he wished the
raiding column, after destroying the railroad east of Vicksburg, to
avoid the confederate forces certain to concentrate against its return
to Lagrange by pushing south to Baton Rouge ; and Grierson agreed
with Smith that this seemingly bolder course would be much the less
hazardous. At a protracted conference "lasting until after midnight"
held by them with Hurlbut, at Memphis, some time during the latter
part of March,* they failed to convince Hurlbut of the superior ad-
*Smith says ' 'about three weeks, " before the receipt of Hurlbut's formal orders, issued
April 10.
124
vantages of their plan, and his orders to Smith of April lo specific-
ally directed a return through Northern Alabama. Confidently be-
lieving that Hurlbut's judgment was in error, Smith assumed the grave
responsibility of personally ordering Grier&on to go through to Baton
Rouge, advising him at the same time that as soon as his connections
were broken he was free to use his own discretion in meeting emergen-
cies as they might arise, and that, after effecting his main purpose,
he should go south or return to the north, as he might judge to be
the most expedient. A letter from General Smith to the writer, dated
May 4, 1907, upon which especially this statement is based, is as fol-
lows :
"Hurlbut's order to me April 10, his letter to Rawlins, and his final
order to me April 16, specifically or by fair inference directed Grierson
to return by way of north Alabama, and his orders were so understood
by him and me. Grierson's brigade was part of my command guard-
ing the Memphis and Charleston and other railroad lines, and repairing
them whenever they were injured by the enemy holding the south bank
of the Tallahatchie river, running east and west nearly parallel with
the Memphis and Charleston Road and about forty miles further south.
"The rebel raiders, Forrest and Chalmers, made frequent forays,
striking the railroad between the points garrisoned by our troops, tear-
ing it up and then retreating beyond the Tallahatchie before they could
be overtaken by our cavalry sent in pursuit. I determined, if I could
get the consent of my superior officers, to turn the tables on them by
sending our cavalry to the rear of their army and raiding their lines
of communication, letting them have the fun of doing the chasing.
"Having talked the matter over with Grierson, who strongly ap-
proved the idea, we went to Memphis and discussed it with General
Hurlbut during a long conversation at which Grierson was present.
Hurlbut disapproved of the movement through to Baton Rouge, as too
rash and hazardous. I urged it strenuously on the ground that it was
far less dangerous to go on through than to attempt to return ; which
would bring him right into the hands of Forrest's and Chalmers' com-
bined forces pursuing him. Grierson agreed with me and expressed
full confidence in his ability to go through to Baton Rouge as we had
planned.
"Hurlbut could not be convinced, and about three weeks later sent
me the final orders referred to by you. [Order of April 10.] When
I showed these orders to Grierson we were sorely puzzled, feeling
that the raid as we had planned it promised almost certain success,
and that it would spread consternation throughout the rebel territory,
while any attempt to return by way of north Alabama would almost
certainly end in disastrous failure.
"I finally said to Grierson that Hurlbut's order was directed to me
and that he was not supposed to know what it was, that he would go
in obedience to the orders I should give him, and that I would take the
responsibility and order him to go straight through to our army at
Baton Rouge. H he succeeded, no questions would be asked ; and if
he failed, I would take the consequences and should probably be cash-
iered for disobedience of orders.
125
"At all e.vents, when he had passed to the rear of the enemy's lines
south of the Tallahatchie his communications with us would be cut off,
and he would have discretionary power, and it would be his duty and
privilege to use his own best judgment as to the course it would be
safest and best to take. Most likely, after the rebel cavalry had closed
in behind him, he would not dare to try to get back, and would have
to go right straight on to Baton Rouge.
"This was my final order to him, and I know of no other that was
given to him by any one before his departure. He went south around
the eastern end of the enemy's line, while I moved a brigade of in-
fantry on Panola at the western end of it, making a strong diversion in
his favor. He easily overcame all opposition made by the enemy and
reached his destination without serious loss, having destroyed army
stores and torn up railroads on his way, captured prisoners, and given
the rebels a thorough and wide-spread shaking up. No more brilliant
or effective raid was made by the troops of either army during the war
of the rebellion.
"Grierson was an ideal cavalry officer — brave and dashing, cunning
and resourceful — and his troops were excellent and well worthy of
such a commander. The conception and general plan of the raid were
mine. Its masterly execution belonged to Grierson and to his able
and gallant subordinate officers and brave men, and to them and him
I have always gladly given the praise they deserved."
NOTE B.
Local Effects of the Raid. — It was the sole object of the Grierson
raid to break up railroads and to destroy transportation facilities and
public property of the confederacy, and every effort was made by the
leading officers to prevent interference with the persons and property
of citizens, except as necessary to the safety of the command and the
success of the expedition. General Grant in his order to Hurlbut of
March 9 (R. R., 24, Pt. III., p. 95) says specifically, "The troops should
be instructed to keep well together, and let marauding alone for once,
and thereby better secure success." Grierson says in his report (R. R.,
24, Pt. I., p. 524) : "We arrived at Louisville soon after dark. I sent
a battalion of the Sixth Illinois, under Major Starr, in advance, to
picket the town and remain until the column had passed, when they
were relieved by a battalion of the Seventh Illinois, under Major Gra-
ham, who was ordered to remain until we should have been gone an
hour, to prevent persons leaving with information of the course we
were taking, to drive out stragglers, preserve order, and quiet the
fears of the people. They had heard of our coming a short time before
we arrived, and manv had left, taking only what they could hur-
riedly move. The column moved quietly through the town without
halting, and not a thing was disturbed. Those who remained at home
acknowledged that thev were surprised. They had expected to be
robbed, outraged and have their houses burned. On the contrary, they
were protected in their persons and property." And in descnbmg a
skirmish with a company at Garlandville (page 525) he says: "After
126
disarming them, we showed them the folly of their actions, and released
them. Without any exception they acknowledged their mistake, and
declared that they had been grossly deceived as to our real character.
One volunteered his services as guide, and upon leaving us declared
that hereafter his prayers should be for the Union army. I mention
this as a sample of the feeling which exists, and the good effect which
our presence produced amoung the people in the country through which
we passed." Nevertheless, the exigencies of the service demanded
many acts on our part of a kind to cause wide-spread apprehension,
and to leave behind us a broad trail of consternation and dismay. It
was unavoidable that we should be obliged, after the first few days,
to "live upon the country," with all that is implied by this expression ;
that as our horses gave out we should continue our march by seizing
others in their place ; and that negroes should be permitted to avail
themselves of our presence to escape from bondage — facts which gave
to the movement of Grierson's column through the length of the state
the character of a great public calamity. Illustrations of the impres-
sion made by our movement are contained in the following extracts
from the manuscript of Colonel Forbes, and from the southern news-
papers of the time.
From the MS. of Col. H. C. Forbes. — We had not been long on our
road [Starkville to Macon] before we were made aware of the ludi-
crous but tremendous panic which the raid was causing in these parts.
As fast as men could ride and negroes run, the most exaggerated re-
ports flew right and left, both as to the numbers and the conduct of our
soldiers. Our hundreds became so many thousands, while our really
restrained and considerate bearing towards the people was transmuted
into every form of plunder and violence. The whole region was terror-
ized. The conscription had largely stripped the country of its natural
defenders, yet there was a considerable contingent of white men to be
found about the plantations. There were also many skulkers from the
conscription and deserters from the confederate armies who were much
more willing to shoot than to be shot. In every county and in most
towns there were organizations of home guards, primarily raised to
overawe the blacks and to keep in check the reckless elements of the
population.
The women, the children, and the superannuated men completed the
list. This heterogeneous and not wholly normal populace was thrown
into the wildest excitement as we sped through. Some wished to
fight ; many chose to run ; and all busied themselves with attempts to
secrete their property. The flour and sugar were thrust into the re-
motest corner of the garret ; the ham and bacon were buried under the
houses or in the ash-heaps ; the silver and china services were secreted
under the soil of the freshly hoed gardens; the negro men were sent
away into the swamps with the stock of all kinds, and oftentimes with
wagon-loads of household stuff. The white men, unless bearing arms,
were generally secreted from what was commonly supposed to be
probable capture and possible murder, in whatever best hiding-place
could be devised : while the women and children held the home against
the invader — and well indeed they did it. I never saw a southern
woman show undignified fear in her own home. They had the prej-
127
udices of their section and the expressiveness of their sex, and always
a full broadside of both for the adventurous Yankee who lingered long
enough to afford a fair mark. ******
As, therefore, we moved towards Macon, we found ourselves in the
midst of the left-hand crest of this panic-stricken overflow from the
main march ; a stampede which, as we afterwards learned, extended
twenty to thirty miles in each direction.
From the Paulding (Mississippi) '"Clarion" of May i, i86^. — On
last Friday morning a force of federal cavalry, supposed to be from
twelve to fifteen hundred in number, with four pieces of light artillery,
suddenly made their appearance at Newton Station, on the Southern
railroad. They entered Philadelphia, Neshoba county, late Thursday
evening, and early the next morning were at Newton, thirty-seven
miles distant.
From all we can learn, this body of federals passed from North
Mississippi through the counties of Pontotoc, Chickasaw, and Oktib-
beha, and through Philadelphia and Decatur to the Southern road.
* * * *
After leaving Newton Station, the federals proceeded to Garland-
ville, in Jasper county. This neighborhood being one of the richest in
this part of the State, suffered severely from their depredations. As
they approached Garlandville, three shots were fired at them, resulting
in the killing of one of their horses and severely wounding one of the
men, who was the next day left behind in Smith county. The parties
who fired at them (Cole, Marshal, Levi and Chapman) escaped. From
Garlandville they proceeded in the direction of Raleigh, and camped
Friday night at Mr. C. M. Bender's, thirteen miles from Garlandville.
They took all Mr. Bender's mules and two of his negroes, and con-
sumed a large amount of his corn and meat. ^Before leaving Mr. B.'s
they gave him a receipt for three thousand rations of meat and forage,
signed by Wm. Prince, Colonel, Seventh Illinois cavalry, commanding
second brigade, etc. From here they went to the residence of Elias
Nichols, in Smith county, robbed him of all his mules, a carriage, sev-
eral of his negroes, and a greater part of his corn and meat. They
passed on from Nichols's to Raleigh.
A company of about fifty men, armed with double-barrel guns, were
made up at Paulding on Saturday to defend the place ; but hearing
during the day that the federals had passed rapidly into Smith county,
concluded it was useless to pursue them. But on Sunday news that a
body of the enemy [Company B, Seventh Illinois] had again appeared
at Garlandville, caused them to reassemble, and on Sunday night a
good company left this place in their pursuit. On Monday morning
they heard in Smith that they had left that county the day before, and
there being no probability of overtaking them, they returned home.
A meeting of citizens of Jasper county, not subject to conscription,
will be held in Paulding on next Monday, for the purpose of organiz-
ing a volunteer company of cavalry for home defense.
From the Jackson "Appeal" for April 28, 1863. — From various
sources we have particulars of the enemy's movements from the north
line of Mississippi, through the eastern portion of the State, almost to
128
the Louisiana line. The route chosen for this daring dash was through
the Hne of counties lying between the Mobile and Ohio, and New Or-
leans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroads, in which, as they antici-
pated, there was no organized force to oppose them.
The penetration of an enemy's country, however, so extensively,
will be recorded as one of the gallant feats of the war, no matter
whether the actors escape or are captured. The expedition, we learn,
was under command of Col. Grierson, of Illinois, who has already
acquired considerable reputation as a dashing leader in West Tennes-
see. He boasted that he had no fears of his ability to extricate his
command from the dangerous position it seemed to be in, but gave no
indication as to the route he should take to get out of the country.
* * * After crossing Leaf river, the bridges behind them were
burned. Last night, it appears to be authentically reported, they
camped near Westville, in the southern part of Simpson county.
Whether they will move thence to Natchez, zna Monticello and Holmes-
ville, can only be conjectured; but we still incline to the opinion so con-
fidently expressed some days ago, on first being advised of their pres-
ence at Newton, that Baton Rouge will be their haven, if undisturbed.
The crossing of Pearl river is the only natural difficulty they will en-
counter, and as we have no doubt they are advised as to the facilities
they can secure at the different prominent fords, we presume they will
act accordingly. Monticello and Holmesville may expect a visit.
The damage to the Southern railroad extends over a distance of four
and a half miles, commencing a mile west of Newton, and running
east. Two bridges, each about 150 feet long, seven culverts and one
cattle gap, constitute the injury done. * * * Twenty freight cars
were burned at Newton, and the depot buildings and two commissary
buildings. The telegraph wire was taken down for miles, and cut in
pieces. In many instances the wire was rolled up and put into the
ditches and pools. But few poles were destroyed. We can hear of but
little outrage having been committed upon the persons of non-combat-
ants or upon their property, except by the seizure of every good horse,
and of the necessary forage and provisions. They had to depend upon
the country for these. * * =;= Xhe safe at the railroad depot was
broken open and the funds abstracted. The money was returned,
however, by their commanding officer, with the exception of fifteen
hundred dollars that, it was claimed, some of the men had stolen. The
main body of the party in the movement upon Enterprise was halted at
Hodge's residence, about five miles out, where they remained several
hours. A detachment was sent to take the place [Company B, 7th
Illinois], and they advanced with the greatest confidence. Fortunately,
the Thirty-fifth Alabama, under Lieutenant-Colonel Goodman, arrived
about the same time and met the advancing party as they were
approaching the bridge. As our men were about to open fire a flag
of truce was raised, when a parley ensued and a demand for a surren-
der was made. Colonel G. was expecting reinforcements every moment
and asked time to consider. The Yankees then fell back and. Colonel
Loring arriving with the Twelfth Louisiana, Colonel Scott, and the
Seventh Kentucky, Major Bell, pursuit was commenced, when its was
129
found the advance had fallen back to the main body and all had gone.
A fruitless effort to come up with them was made some miles further,
but they had evidently become alarmed and feared an encounter.
At Doctor Hodge's the main body halted several hours . * * * *
Some of them entered the doctor's enclosure and required his daughters
to furnish them provisions, which was done to the extent of cooked
articles on hand. The rose bushes and flower beds of the young ladies
'were also sadly despoiled by the unwelcome visitors, but beyond this
our informant says they did no damage, nor did they insult the ladies.
The doctor was absent.
From the Augusta (Georgia) Constitutionalist, May 8, i86j. — Their
boldness and impudence in some cases were remarkable. A couple of
their, scouts were sent into Hazlehurst an hour or two before their
raid upon that place,- who walked boldly into the telegraph office and
penned a dispatch to Jackson,* stating that the Yankee raiders had
turned to the northeast. Their true character, however, being recog-
nized, there was some talk of arresting them, when they — the Yankees
— drew their pistols, defied the officers and men of the town, mounted
their horses and rejoined their commands, then within two or three
miles of the place, after which the whole force entered the town in
squads of fifty and a hundred — several hours' interval between the van
and rear guards — as leisurely and with as much nonchalance as our
country people would ride into town on a gala day.
From the Columbus (Mississippi) Republic. — The past week has
been an eventful one. The boldest, and we may say one of the most
successful, raids of cavalry that has been know since the war began,
has been made (we say it with shame) through the very center of !\Iis-
sissippi, and at the time of this writing we fear have escaped without
the loss of a man. We are almost inclined to believe the words of a
correspondent, that the manhood of Mississippi had gone to the wars ;
women only were left, although some of them wore the garb of men.
We do not know where the responsibility rests, but wherever it is, if
it is not a fit and proper subject for court martial, we are afraid there
are none. ****--!=♦ * j^- js reported that between four and
five thousand federal cavalry started on this raid. They divided ; some
fifteen hundred,! or perhaps a few more, stopped and gave Colonel
Barteau battle, while the remainder, three thousand strong,;]: marched
directly south, scouring the country, from eight to ten miles wide, leav-
ing the railroad, south of West Point, on their left. They encamped
one night within twenty-five miles of this place . They destroyed the
hospital at Okolona§ and a few other buildings, passing south through
Houston, Siloam and Starkville, to within one mile of Macon, || and
thence south to Newton Station, on the Southern road, which we learn
they destroyed. We can learn of no serious damage done or any ill
*This dispatch was written by Colonel Prince, of the 7th. and sent to Hazlehurst by two of
the scouts. (Surby, p. 67.)
tHatch's five hundred men of the Second Iowa.
IGrierson's 950 men of the 6th and 7th Illinois.
§Hatch's command.
IIForbes's company.
— 9H S
I30
treatment to the inhabitants personally. Their main objects seem to
have been to examine the country and robbery — taking horses, mules
and a few negroes.
At Starkville they robbed the inhabitants of horses, mules, negroes,
jewelry and money ; went into the stores and threw their contents
(principally tobacco) into the street or gave it to the negroes ; caught
the mail boy and took the mail, robbed the postoffice, but handed back
a letter from a soldier to his wife, containing $50.00, and ordered the
postmaster to give it to her. Doctor Montgomery was taken prisoner
and kept in camp all night, six miles from town, and allowed to return
home next morning, after relieving him of his watch and other valu-
ables. Hale & Murdock's hat wagon, loaded with wool hats, passing
through at the time was captured. They gave the hats to the negroes
and took the mules. Starkville can boast of better head covering for
its negroes than any other town in the state.
They left quite a number of broken down horses all along their
route, supplying themselves as they went. They stated that they were
not destroying property ; that they were gentlemen.
GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT.
J31
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
By Judge Jacob W. Wilkin.
However much we are interested in the written history of the lives
of great men, we all like to hear persons tell what they have seen of
them and heard them say. Some such feeling as this must have
prompted your committee to invite me to give "personal reminiscences"
of General U. S. Grant, for it is a painful fact that of those who were
intimately associated with this remarkable man, as members of his
staff, during the war and from whom we can hope to get personal rec-
ollections of him, most of them have gone before or followed him to
the grave. By accepting this invitation I would not have you under-
stand that I claim to have had exceptional opportunities for forming
an estimate of General Grant. I was closely associated with him but a
few months, beginning with the Vicksburg campaign in the spring of
1863 and ending shortly after the surrender of that city, during which
time I was at his headquarters and saw him almost daily. I was, how-
ever, then a young and inexperienced officer, not very competent to
judge of his characteristics either as a man or commanding general.
I believe, however, we will all agree that some of his traits of char-
acter, especially as a soldier, were so marked that no one could see
much of him without being impressed with his greatness as a military
genius and observe the peculiarities of mind and character which gave
him his world wide renown as a military captain. The few incidents
which I shall attempt to relate tonight as occurring during the time I
was with him may appear to be insignificant, and some of them even
trivial, but they have seemed to me to be of a character calculated to
throw some light upon his methods of thought and inner life, and for
that reason to be worthy of repetition. They may tend to exemplify
the modes of thinking and acting which marked his career from the
rank of a colonel in the volunteer army to the crowning success of his
life as lieutenant-general, commanding all the armies of the United
States.
About the middle of March, 1863, while in camp at Milliken's Bend,
Louisiana, I was walking along the levy or boat landing one morning,
with one of my lieutenants, when a man in semi-military dress and
unassuming in appearance walked off of a steamboat that had landed
that night, apparently absorbed in a newspaper, and I said to the lieu-
tenant with me: "There is General Grant." To which he replied:
"I guess not. How do you know General Grant?" He insisted that I
was mistaken, and in a jocular way said, "That fellow don't look like a
general, or to have the ability to command a regiment, much less an
army." Somehow I was at that time impressed with his appearance,
possibly from the fact that I knew it was Grant, having previously
seen him, and I replied : "You are very much mistaken. He is not
only able to command a regiment, but he can and will capture Vicks-
burg." Of course, this was a casual conversation, not of a very seri-
ous character, but I was right as to the identity of the man. It was
General U. S. Grant, who had come to take personal command of the
army which was now to move against Vicksburg.
My regiment was the One Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois, of which
Colonel Matheny, of blessed memory, resident of Springfield, was
colonel and belonged to the Thirteenth army corps, which was to
form the advance from Milliken's Bend dawn the west side of the
Mississippi river in the campaign. The corps was commanded by that
gallant -soldier and splendid field officer, Major-General John A.
McClernand, then also a resident of this city. General headquarters
were established near our camp. ColonelClark B. Lagow of the Twenty^-
first Illinois commanded in the field, and when it entered the three
years' service by General Grant, was aid on his stafif. Colonel Lago\v
had enlisted from Palestine, Crawford county, in which I was raised,
and I had seen him while a boy on my father's farm and heard more
or less of him. Major Bowers from Mount Carmel, Wabash county^
was also a member of his staff, and I knew something of him. In the
early days of the war we formed acquaintances more readily with
others from the same county or district, and perhaps in that way I
was attracted to the headquarters, where I frequently met the gentler
men whose names I have mentioned, especially Major Bowers, who,
though older than myself, was still a young man and very genial and
agreeable.
I then saw very little of General Grant himself. He was busy per-
fecting the organization of the army and issuing orders for the for-
ward movement. A few days before breaking camp at the Bend an
order came to send all sick and disabled men to the hospital boats lying
in the river near by. A member of my company had an injured leg
and could not march, though he was otherwise well, and he begged
not to be sent to the hospital. He was from the same town and I had
known him at home and felt much interested in him. I was anxious
to obtain a furlough, that he might go home, where he had a wife and
two little children, and there regain his strength. Every soldier knows
how hospitals were dreaded in the army, and I started out one morn-
ing determined, if possible, to get the furlough, going first to regi-
mental headquarters, where I was promptly rebuked for even making
the application, and told that the general order was then in force that
no furloughs whatever should be granted. I went from there to brig-
ade and division headquarters, but met with the same discouraging
refusal and information as to the existing order. I returned to my
tent very much disheartened, but said to one of the lieutenants, "I
believe I will go over to headquarters and talk with Major Bowers
about the matter," which I did. Headquarters were established in a
133
large oblong tent, called a hospital tent, with a canvas partition through
the center. The office business was done in the front end, and, as I
afterwards learned, the back part was used as the sleeping apartment
and private quarters of the general. I stated to Major Bowers my
business, making the best plea I could for my friend; but he told me,
as had others, that it was useless to talk about a furlough at that
time, in view of the general order. But I said: "This is an excep-
tional case. The man is not sick, but with his abhorrence of a hos-
pital, if sent there he will in all probability become sick and die. I
wish he could be allowed to go home to his wife and children." Just
then the fly or canvas partition in the tent was pushed aside and Gen-
eral Grant, appearing, said, "Major, give that man a furlough," and
withdrew. I sank down on a camp stool, overcome with astonishment,
because I did not know General Grant was anywhere near, and Major
Bowers was as much surprised as I was. He laughed, however, and
s.aid, "Well, that is all right," and immediately filled out the furlough.
That afternoon I saw the crippled soldier take passage on a steamboat
up the river, happy and glad, in the hope of soon meeting his wife
and babies.
On the afternoon of the gSth of March a general order was circu-
lated through the camp for the thirteenth corps to move at an early
hour the next morning, our point of destination being New Carthage,
Louisiana, about twenty-seven miles below on the Louisiana shore.
Every one who has had an experience in army life knows what a
commotion precedes breaking camp before entering upon an extended
campaign. That night the men were busily engaged preparing rations,
packing knapsacks and writing letters home. My company was then
busy as others, when about 9 :oo o'clock there came an order for me
to report with my company to headquarters for special duty. How
I came to be selected I do not know. I had no reason then or after-
wards to suppose that General Grant knew me or had ever heard of me.
Perhaps if he had, another would have been chosen in my stead.
The order, no doubt, came in the usual way. A captain with his
company had been called for from our brigades and the order trans-
mitted to the colonel of my regiment, who, in turn, selected my com-
pany to fill it. However that may be, with not a little disappointment
we saw the regiment, with the corps, march away the next morning
on that memorable campaign, and we reported to headquarters.
I was directed to take charge of the abandoned camp and put my
company on guard to protect the stores which had been left behind,
myself to superintend the landing and movement of other troops,
some of which were at that time above at Lake Providence and others
below at Young's Point, as they landed at the Bend. If at no other
time during my army experience I earned my pay. I did during the
week or ten days following. The troops which were being landed —
regiments, brigades, and divisions — were all anxious to find camping
places, and make hasty preparations for moving on after the thirteenth
corps, and each officer insisted on being first recognized and first
advanced, so that I had all sorts, of controversies, quarrels and some-
times almost fights, to carry out the orders which had been given me.
134
On the night of the i6th of April three transports, heavily guarded
by gunboats under command of Admiral Porter, passed the batteries
at Vicksburg and Warrenton Landing, below, at, or near New Car-
thage, where our corps was by that time in camp. On the night of
the 22d the experiment was to be made of running the blockade with
six wooden transports towing twelve barges, all heavily loaded with
rations, ammunition and forage. There were no iron-clad gunboats
left to escort and guard them. These had all gone below with the
first fleet. Colonel Lagow of the general's staff, of whom I have
spoken, and Colonel William S. Oliver of the Seventh Missouri, a
member of General McPherson's staff, had immediate charge of the
fleet, with headquarters on the steamer Tigress. The other transports
were the Empire City, Moderator, J. W. Chessman, the Anglo Saxon
and the Horizon. I was on General Grant's headquarters boat, the
H. Von Phul, that night and she ran down to a point several miles
above the city, from which the boats were to form in line and start
on their hazardous voyage. The night, as I have said, was the 22d
of April; the hour was about io:oo o'clock, and the most impenetrable
darkness prevailed. The boats had orders to display no lights — the
fires of their furnaces were concealed by bales of hay and cotton. They
were to give no signals, but float silently down the river until they
encountered the rebel batteries.
I will not forget that night, as I saw the Tigress, followed by her
five companies, glide by the Von Phul, and saw standing on the
upper deck of his headquarters boat a man of iron, his wife by his
side. He seemed to me then the most immovable figure I ever saw.
If the expression, "the silent man," ever described him, it did at that
hour. No word escaped his lips, no muscle of his earnest face moved.
He was indeed silent as the tomb and immovable as granite. As the
fleet approached the upper batteries, the rebel picket boat on guard
gave the signal, and instantly battery after battery opened upon the
frail, defenseless transports. To say that we were all excited but
feebly describes the situation. The excitement and commotion was,
however, of that suppressed character which intensifies rather than con-
ceals emotion. Conversations were carried on with bated breath
of deepest anxiety and apprehension for our friends who were float-
ing, as we feared, to certain death. Men were nervously moving about
the boat, straining their eyes to catch a glimpse of the heroic fleet and
the gallant men on board. Grant alone appeared oblivious to every-
thing that was going on. Think of it. Upon the success of that expe-
dition, for the time being at least, hung the fate of all his plans for
the capture of Vicksburg. If those boats failed to reach the army
below, it would be without provisions, without forage ; and still worse,
without adequate means of crossing the river and gaining the necessary
footing on the east side. If the boats were sent to the bottom, as the
rebels confidently hoped they would be able to do, thirty thousand men
or more would be helpless upon the west bank of the river. And yet,
on that eventful night when the crucial test was about to be made, no
one could have detected in the appearance or conduct of the man a
moment of hestitation, doubt or misgiving.
135
It has been suggested that the plan of running those batteries orig-
inated with other officers, but I heard Colonel Rawlins himself say,
and he knew, that the first time General Grant put a field glass to his
face, as he stood on the bow of a boat above the batteries and swept
the bluffs of Vicksburg below, he turned and said, "Transports can
be run by those guns with comparative safety," and proceeded to ex-
plain how it could be done. The batteries, he said, had been planted
on the bluffs with a view of commanding the channel and west side
of the river, and if boats should hug the Vicksburg shore closely, the
guns could not be sufficiently depressed to strike them. From that
hour he made his plans upon the correctness of this theory and never
for a moment doubted it. It is a well known fact that the fleet pur-
sued exactly the course indicated. The boats ran under the rebel guns
and so to a great extent escaped their deadly fire.
It would be idle for me to attempt a description of the magnificence
and sublimity of the tragic scene of that night. It is foreign to my
subject, and besides the attempt would be worse than idle. No pen
nor tongue and no painter's brush ever has or ever can approximate
a portrayal of the scene. The description of the struggle of Colonels
Lagow, Oliver and the heroic cruise on the Tigress that midnight,
until finally, with more than thirty solid shots through her hull, she
broke in two and went down, stirs the heart and commands the admir-
ation of every one who feels a thrill of patriotism when he reads of
the desperate deeds of men in their country's cause. When the sound
of the last gun at Warrenton had died away, the headquarters boat
headed up stream and went back to the Bend. I don't remember hear-
ing General Grant speak a word that night.
Soon after that, in obedience to orders, I took my company up the
Yazoo river and joined headquarters in the rear of the city, north of
the Jackson and Vicksburg wagon road, and not far from where now
stands the Illinois Memorial temple, erected to the memory of the Illi-
nois soldiers who fought in that historic campaign — a monument
which is indeed one of magnificence and beauty; said to surpass in
splendor of design and architectural beauty anything of its kind on this
continent, if not in the world. Thanks to the liberality of our Legis-
lature, the loyalty of Governor Yates — the honored son bearing the
honored name of Illinois' illustrious war Governor — and our present
chief executive, Charles S. Deneen, himself the son of one who faith-
fully followed the flag in defense of our country. But I digress. It is
difficult to confine myself to my subject. Too many temptations break
in upon me.
The headquarters in the rear of the city were established upon one
of the many ridges which extend back from the bluffs eastward,
and in a little valley to the north my company was camped, furnishing
the headquarters' guard. After the capture of Jackson, the battles of
Champion Hill and the Black River, General Johnston remained in our
rear with a formidable army, perhaps thirty "thousand men ; and there
was more or less apprehension that he might attempt to cooperate
with Pemberton inside of the breastworks and give us serious trouble.
The precaution had been taken to place a force between Vicksburg and
136
Black Riyer, in order to prevent any surprise or movement of that
kind_, tiut still the anxiety existed as to what Johnston might try to do.
Scouts were frequently sent put for the purpose of watching and
reporting, his ;movements. One morning a number of these came in
from the different corps and one came to my tent for breakfast. I
was amused to find that he carried in his pocket a small twig or stick
with a number of notches cut on it, which he explained to me to indi-
qatfe, the number of regiments he had counted in Johnston's army as
he passed secretly through his camp.
: Early that afternoon there was a meeting of corps and division com-
manders at headquarters. Of course, I was not a participant in that
conference, but had sufficient curiosity to make it convenient to be
near enough to hear some things that were said. It was plain that
the officers who had met there were excited and anxious about the
movements of Johnston and what he might do. Some tried to impress
upon General Grant the. danger of his throwing a heavy force against
a single point on our line and force his way through into the city,
or by attacking us in the rear, with Pemberton in front, forcing usto
fight between their lines. General Sherman said something like this :
"If Johnston should attack me on the extreme right, before I could be
reinforced from other parts of the line, which was more than seven
miles long, he would in all probability be able to cut his way through."
I may not have fully comprehended their apprehensions, but I remem-
ber it was suggested that if Johnston should move in our direction it
would be better to throw out a force to meet him and fight him on
open ground and drive him back. General Grant sat upon a camp
stool in front of his tent quietly smoking, taking no part whatever in
the discussion and making no reply to any of the suggestions until
all were through, and then he simply said: "I know General Johnston
better than you do. He does not want to get into Vicksburg. Pem-
berton wants to get out. Johnston would like for me to do just what
some of you suggest — withdraw enough of our troops to meet him,
thus weakening bur lines, when Pemberton would hope to force his
way out. Nobody wants to get into Vicksburg. Everybody in there
would like to get out." The conference ended, and Sherman, Ord and
McPherson, with their division commanders, rode off, I suppose sat-
isfied with the pointed and direct reply which the General made. iVt
least we heard no more of an attack from the rear or of throwing out
a force to meet Johnston. Grant had his hand on Pemberton's throat
and he would not be tempted to let that go.
A sergeant in my company, Aus Griffin, a jolly, good-hearted fel-
low, before enlisting was a house carpenter, and one day he suggested
to some of the officers, perhaps to Grant himself, that he would like
to build a kitchen and dining room for the headquarters, and was
given consent to do so. He took a squad of men and went down to a
canebrake nearby, where he cut and carried up bundles of cane, which
by means of posts planted in the ground, he wove into a sort of lattice
work, making two very handsome rooms, one for a kitchen and the
other for a dining room. Having completed the work, he asked per-
mission to go out into the country and get a table and some chairs for.
137
the dining room, and was allowed to do that. He took three or four
men with him one morning and was gone all day, coming back in the
evening with a marble top table, two goblets and a silver pitcher,
which he set down in the dining room where the General happened
to be. Griffin and the General had by this time become good friends.
Grant said: "Sergeant, where did you get those things?" The ser-
geant was a smart fellow and at once realized that he was about to
get into an embarrassing dilemma, but replied : "Oh, out in an old house
in the country." "What kind of a house?" "Well, it is an old church,
but they don't use it any more, and these things might be carried off
and so I thought I might get them for you." But the General shook
his head and said, "No, no, that won't do, Sergeant, you must take
them back, they are used for sacred purposes and I will not suffer
them to be devoted to any other, you must take them back." "Well,"
said the sergeant, "all right, can I wait until morning?" "Yes, but I
want you to promise me that you will see that they are placed where
you got them." "I will do that, of course." And so the next morning.
Griffin and his squad shouldered up the heavy marble top table and with
the goblets and pitcher marched off. And I have no doubt he faith-
fully did what he promised the General he would. Here was a man of
cruel war with a Christian heart and reverence for sacred things.
One day while riding on the lines, he saw a teamster beating a mule,
and riding up to him, ordered him to stop. Wearing an army blouse
without shoulder straps, the man did not recognize him and not very
politely told him to mind his own business, using profane language,
whereupon Grant told his orderly to arrest him and bring him to
headquarters. He was turned over to me with orders to tie him up
by the thumbs. When the fellow realized that he had used insulting
language to General Grant he was the most humiliated man imaginable
and protested he did not know it was General Grant. His punishment
lasted but a little while and because of my sympathy, was not the most
severe of the kind, when I was directed to bring him up to the head-
quarters tent and there he renewed his protestation that he did not
know it was the general he was talking to and that he would not under
any circumstances have insulted him. But the general said, "You
don't understand, it was not I that was hurt, it was the mule. -I
could defend myself but the poor dumb animal could say or do noth-
ing for its own protection," and dismissed the culprit with the ad-
monition that he would be closely watched and if again found abusing
his team, he would be summarily dealt with. The man went away re-
peating "T did not know it was General Grant." I am aware that
General Porter relates a similar occurrence during the campaign in
the wilderness. Here was a man sometimes charged with inhumanly
disregarding the lives of his men, manifesting the heart and sym-'
pathy of a humanitarian. He cared nothing for himself, but could
not tolerate cruelty to a dumb brute.
An amusing incident occurred during the siege. A member of the
company discovered a bee tree near the camp and the boys obtained
permission to cut it down. When it fell, it broke near the place where
138
the bees had deposited their honey, but they were so hostile that it
was impossible to get the tempting treasure. The men took their camp
kettles and with torches marched in. But the bees as often charged
and drove them back. Those of us who were out of range, standing
on the hill above, were very much amused, Grant ,with the rest of us.
enjoying the fun. Finally a bald-headed, ill-tempered, quarrelsome,
profane fellow swore he was going to have some of that honey anyhow.
And he ventured in with his cap pulled over his head and face, and in
spite of being stung, began to dig out the honey. The bees peppered
him on the hands and face until finally he could stand it no longer and
dropping his spoon began to strike right and left, first with his hands,
but at last he jerked ofif his hat, jumped up and down and swore fur-
iously. Fighting aimlessly in every direction. The bees, of course,
took advantage of the situation and began to strike the top of his
bald head, until at last he had to retreat. Grant laughed immoderately,
and I do not think he ever saw that soldier afterward that he did not
smile. He was a stern man, at times a melancholy one, but he could
on occasions enjoy with others the amusements of the camp.
Some of you remember that General McClernand (I shall always
believe thoughtlessly) published an order after the charge on the
22d of May, which Grant thought justified his being superceded by
General Ord as commander of the 13th corps. On the morning the
order was issued Col. Rawlins, who was more or less pugnacious and
aggressive in his manner insisted that the conduct of General Mc-
Clernand demanded more severe punishment than that of merely being
relieved of his command, but Grant said no. "General McClernand has
made a mistake but he is a brave soldier, and I will not humiliate him
beyond that which is necessary to maintain discipHne in the army."
(Though not the stricest disciplinarian, he knew that an army without
discipline soon degenerated into a mob.) Here was an exhibition of his
great sense of justice, which in view of the jealousies engendered in the
army among the rival officers was not always found. While I do not
attempt to justify the conduct of General McClernand, I must be
permitted to say that the men of the 13th corps, who fought under
him on the bloody line that day, and many other fields, believed re-
ligiously in their beloved corps commander, both in his loyalty to the
government and in his heroic courage. His presence was always an
inspiration to his men, many of whom did follow him to the death.
One afternoon pandemonium broke loose from one end of the line
to the other. The seven miles of batteries of siege guns and the
thousands of muskets in the rifle pits on either side seemed to open
fire in an instant. The sky was filled with flying shells and shot,
smoke darkened the sun and the hills fairly trembled. For the time
it lasted I am sure there was never such cannonading and rattle of
musketry heard on this earth. Grant happened to be sitting on a stool
near the mouth of his tent, as was frequently his habit, and he neither
spoke or moved. Every one else was in a state of the wildest excite-
ment and demoralization. Rawlins seemed to lose all patience with
Grant's seeming obliviousness or indifference. He said "Hell has
139
broke loose." And that seemed to me the only proper way of ex-
pressing the situation. And, he added, "it seems to me there are times
when even Grant ought to show some anxiety." But Grant was un-
moved. He said nothing and did nothing. After the firing had ceased
he quietly said, "Colonel, you may order the horses and we will ride
out and see what has happened. The rebels have attempted to cut
out and our men have driven them back." I need not say that it was
exactly as he predicted. Here was an exhibition of that trait in his
character which General Sherman denominated faith. A firm reliance
upon the success of his own plans which was largely the secret of his
success in every campaign.
He was, as I have intimated, at times criticized for a seeming reck-
lessness of the lives of his soldiers. When inquiry was made at
Shiloh whether there were sufficient transports to convey the army
across the river in case our army should be compelled to retreat, he
sternly replied, "When this army withdraws there will be plenty of
boats for all the men who are left." And in the fearful losses in the
wilderness, surrounded by the dead and dying, he did not hesitate,
from time to time to repeat the order "the army of the Potomac will
move by the left flank," which Lee soon learned meant continued
bloody, deadly slaughter. When he said, "We will fight it out on this
line if takes all summer," he uttered no mere idle or boastful sentiment.
It was not, however, as I think every one who has studied his character
believes, because he did not sympathize with his army and deprecate
the loss of the brave men who fought and fell under him, but because
he understood the philosophy of war, and knew that in every important
battle many lives must be sacrificed ; but, if victory was achieved, the
dead would not have been killed without recompense ; whereas, if the
loss of life was followed by defeat, the sacrifice might be irreparable
or without compensation. Hence, he always fought for victory. He
early announced his estimate of the situation relative to the civil war.
He believed that the government of the United States had superior
strength both in men and money over the Confederacy and that it
could successfully put down the rebellion by the persistent, aggressive
use of its strength ultimately exhausting and defeating the rebel army,
and followed that idea; whenever and wherever the opportunity pre-
sented itself he threw the whole strength of his army into the conflict,
sometimes, it may be true, without much regard to the losses he would
suffer so long as he could see that his efforts weakened or destroyed
the enemy. No one can doubt his great ability in conceiving and
carrying out his plans, and in my judgment that genius grew out of
his dogged persistency.
It has been said bv military men of this and other countries that his
campaign against V'icksburg was the most brilliant in conception and
execution mentioned in history. None of the great campaigns equalled
it. Whenever and however he appeared before his army during that
campaign he was the personification of a conquering hero. We have
read of his splendid horsemanship and of his unattractive appearance
dismounted. To me he alwavs had an impressive personality. It_ is
true when he mounted his splendid horse (he never rode an inferior
I40
one) he seemed to grow in stature and commanding presence, but
whether so mounted or on foot he inspired his army with confidence
and courage whenever and wherever they saw him. Finally the victory
came. I saw the white flag creep slowly out of the rebel works and
heard the shouts of victory as they rolled along and moved slowly
toward our Union lines. The Gibraltar of the Confederacy, with all its
garrisons, had surrendered, and on the 4th of July we moved in and
took possession. Soon after, headquarters were established in one of the
residences of the city. The general's wife and children joined him
there, and I often saw him surrounded by his family — a kind, consider-
ate, indulgent and loving husband and father. Duties soon called
him to other fields and I returned to my regiment seeing no more of him
until after the close of the war. I then saw him as we all did, upon the
very summit of earthly fame. No jealousies or ill feelings approach
him there.
His subordinates with one accord recognized his superiority and
even the enemy pronounced him the great, generous and noble-hearted
victor. He was then in a military atmosphere purified by the red fire
of battle, and there he might have remained without a stain upon or an
insinuation against his fair fame.
I have sometimes said to myself, "Oh, why did he ever leave that
proud position, and why was he ever tempted to enter the turmoil and
strife of party politics and animosities and humiliations there en-
gendered and from which we must all admit he keenly suffered."
No doubt, in some of his executive acts as President of the United
States, he maintained his character for greatness, but he was essen-
tially a soldier and not a statesman, certainly not a politician.
A few years ago I walked into that marvel of architectural beauty
on the bank of the Hudson and stood inside the granite walls of that
splendid mausoleum in which rests the ashes of my ideal soldier and
that beloved wife. I wore a grand army button as did the veteran
Irish soldier on guard. Looking into the vault upon his granite coffin
deposited there, I could not help thinking of his wonderful career, of
the battles he fought, the victories he won, how from obscurity in four
short, stormy, perilous years he forced his way to the pinnacle of mili-
tary glory, and my mind went back to that dark night in April, 1863,
when I saw him standing in front of the pilot house on the H. Von
Phul, the same gentle wife by his side, and had impressed upon my
young mind the conviction, Grant alone is invincible ; Grant is uncon-
querable, and tears coursed their way down my cheeks and as I turned
to go saluted the Irish soldier, who said, "Comrade, perhaps you
knowed the mon."
SAMUEL P. WHEELEK.
1)41
SAMUEL P. WHEELER.
A Memorial.
By James H. Matheny.
Today we have turned aside from the work and care of daily life
to contemplate and to again record the making of Illinois and the men
who made it ; and as we look at them in the dim light of history they
seem, as shadows so often seem, to be of more than human — of heroic
stature. ,But now we turn from them to the life of one whom we
knew and who knew us — a man human like ourselves — but who like
them was strong and true. Twelve months ago he was with us, full of
years and honors, but with the old time brightness in his eye and with
all the force of early days. Today there is but a memory cherished
by hearts that too will cease to beat — the fading tradition of a strong
and useful life. There is a sense in which the influences of every life
are truly immortal in their effect upon the lives of others, and through
them upon yet others from generation to generation, but their identity
is soon lost in the mazes of current and counter-current that make up
the life of the world.
It has been said that the memory of the lawyer is peculiarly
ephemeral. A judgment may be a land mark of the law — it may
make an epoch in the progress of jurisprudence ; it may make historic
the judge who pronounced it; and yet the lawyer whose logic and elo-
quence have perhaps inspired it, whose thought and whose words it
may embody, is forgotten, save,, as in after years, some wearied
student "may pause to spell his name arid wonder who he was." We
therefore corrte today to preserve for future generations our memories
of Samuel P. Wheeler, , -
He was born at Binghamton in the ^tate of New York on the 12th
day of January, 1839. He was the son of Dr. Alvan Wheeler, a physi-
cian of that city. He came to Illinois in early manhood and taught
school for a time. He was admitted to the bar of Illinois when twenty
years of age. He practiced his profession at Mound City on the Ohio
river, and then at Cairo. He resided for a few years at Mt. Carmel.
called there by his duties as manager of the Cairo, Vincennes & Chicago
Railway. He returned to Cairo where he remained until 1887, when
he removed to Springfield, residing here until his death.
His ability had early recognition. In his day the lawyer was trained
in the office of the leaders of the bar and from this and from the con-
stant association in the courts where the profession, young and old,
142
saw every achievement, every failure, the lawyers of the former day
knew each other as those of the present time do not. Mr. Wheeler soon
made his position and his early partnerships attest it. He was asso-
ciated for some years with William Joshua Allen afterward judge of
the United States District Court for the southern district of Illinois.
Those of us who remember Judge Allen in the calm and ease of his
work at Springfield can hardly realize his power and activity when at
the bar, in southern Illinois. Mr. Wheeler was also associated with
John H. Mulkey, afterward judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois,
and with George W. Wall afterward a judge of the Illinois Appellate
Court for this district. These firms were concerned in nearly all the
great litigations of a large territory and the life of each member was
the strenuous life of the court room lawyer.
In 1887, upon the accession of Judge Allen to the bench, Mr.
Wheeler removed to Springfield, as has been said, and became a mem-
ber of the firm of Brown, Wheeler, Brown & Hay, which was historic
among the law firms of Springfield. It then included Christopher C.
Brown, an account of whose life appears in your last volume; it had
included John T. Stuart and Benjamin S. Edwards, and more re-
motely, Abraham Lincoln. It is a most interesting fact that the name
of Lincoln was associated with the early days of another notable firm
of lawyers coming down to our own times with the namics of Stephen
T. Logan, Milton Hay, John M. Palmer, Shelby M. CuUom, Henry
S. Greene, David T. Littler and the distinguished jurist who is to
address you today.
I remember well the announcement of his coming to Springfield and
an expression from a most competent judge — John Mayo Palmer — to
the effect that he would be found to be the strongest piece of legal
timber that had come here for many a day. Of his position at the
bar at Springfield I need not speak, further than to say that it met
the demands of his previous reputation and of the connection to which
he had come ; that he was a lawyer of learning and logical power ;
most effective in the service of his clients and fair to the courts and to
opposing interests.
Mr. Wheeler accepted and performed with credit a number of trusts
of great financial importance. For five years he was receiver for the
Cairo, Vincennes & Chicago Railroad, and for a number of years acted
in the same capacity for the Jacksonville, Louisville & St. Louis Rail-
road, and the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railway.
He was active in the work of the Illinois State Bar Association par-
ticularly in its eai:lier years and took part in the movement for the
creation of a system of appellate courts in Illinois which was actively
conducted by the association and which was the occasion of its organi-
zation. In connection with ex- Judge Anthony Thornton and the late
Harvey B. Hurd, he argued in support of the constitutionality of the
act creating the new courts in the test case which was immediately
brought. The question was one of the greatest interest to the bench,
the bar, and the people. In 1893 he was elected to the presidency
of the association, succeeding Lyman Trumbull.
143
Mr. Wheeler well avoided the extremes of seeking office on the one
hand and of coldly refusing- all public duties on the other. For
twenty-five years he was one of the trustees of the Southern State
Normal University at Carbondale, and for much of this time was
chairman of the board, resigning in the spring of 1906, and in recog-
nition of his service the handsome new library building of that insti-
tution bears his name. For ten years he served as a member of the
board of education of the city of Springfield and rendered full and
faithful service particularly in connection with the new high school
building.
Both at Cairo and at Springfield ]\Ir. Wheeler was an earnest and
consistent member of the Presbyterian church. He was faithful in
attendance and rendered valuable assistance in the lines of activity
to which he was best adapted.
It is difficult to pick out any characteristics of him more prominent
than the rest, but I may mention two that impressed me. His was an
ordered life in the best sense. I once heard him say in reference to
his locating at Cairo that he chose that city because, after his ex-
perience in boyhood with the snows of New York, he wanted to go
as far south as he possibly could without getting into a state in which
slavery existed. I do not know that he meant this to be taken seriously
but the expression was an index to his character. His plans of. life
and work were thought out and then worked out and rarely did they
fail. One strong element of his power at the bar was the orderly mass-
ing of all the resources of law and fact at his command. The lawyer
is proverbially careless and many reputations have been largely made
by ingeniously meeting situations that never ought to have existed.
It was not so with him; he often surpassed the expectation of his
friends, he never fell below it.
His appearance, his manner, and his mental habits were truly
judicial. They so impressed those with whom he was brought into
contact that although he was not a judge at any time, nor so far as
I know, had ever sought to be, yet he was constantly so called and is
so recorded in many of the volumes issued by this association.
The quality of judicial fairness may appear to be inconsistent with
the work of a practising lawyer, but it is not so in fact. The honest
lawyer does not assist his clients in doing that which they may not
honestly do, nor does he argue in the courts questions of law or fact
that are not truly debatable. Experience has demonstrated that with
a debatable question the best result is attained by the effective presen-
tation of all that is pertinent in law or in fact, first on behalf of one
side and then on behalf of the other, and that the division of this
labor between counsel for the parties helps toward the result.
In such presentation there is room for the widest range of logical
power and for the greatest eloquence, but the arguments are sound
and the elements that enter into the result are not misrepresented.
Viewed in this light — its true light — the work of the lawyer is an in-
dispensable part of our judical system.
In this we are reminded of the solemn utterance of Lord Coke. In
speaking of the solution of difficult questions he said :
144
''No one man alone, with all his true and uttermost labors, nor all
the actors in them, themselves, by themselves, out of a court of justice,
nor in court, without solemn argument could ever have attained the
result reached."
We are also reminded of his belief that "upon solemn argument
at the bar Almighty God openeth and enlargeth the understanding."
Coke seems to have believed that upon such occasions there de-
scends upon those engaged a measure of divine inspiration, just as
many believe it so descends in ample measure upon the dignitaries of
the Church when gathered together in solemn conclave.
We may not believe, as did Lord Coke, but we do believe that the
lawyer is an aid to the court in the administration of justice and those
who have most often seen questions of the profoundest difficulty settled
upon argument, and so generally settled right, can best appreciate the
truth of this.
In i860 Mr. Wheeler was married to Katherine F. E. Goss, who
with one son and five daughters survive him. Of the daughters
three are married, but the family circle, thus broken, was restored and
more as the little grandchildren played about his knee and cheered his
heart, even to the very last, with the matchless charm of childhood.
In 1904 he carried into execution a long cherished wish in the build-
ing of a new home. It was near to the busy walks of the people, of
whom he was always one, but it was out where the sun went down be-
hind a noble isle of stately wood — left of the forest primeval — and
where the morning came with the incense of trees and grass and sky.
Here he hoped, as indeed he might well hope, to spend the long evening
of his life in peace.
But this was not to be. While engaged in the court room in June
of last year there came the fatal touch that was the beginning
of the end. He died on the second day of December, 1906. There
is something deeply pathetic in unfilled hopes, but they have always
been one of the sure foundations of man's greatest hope. Out of the
depths has come the cry, not of despair, but of confident acclaim that
the broken arc of human life must find its complement somewhere,
somehow, and we may believe that as the light of day faded from his
eyes, he caught the foregleam of another dav and heard the footfalls
and the voices of another world.
REV. JOHN MASON PECK.
145
DR. JOHN MASON PECK AND SHURTLEFF COLLEGE.
By Judge J. O. Humphrey.
If it is well for us as a people to consider the causes which have
produced important results ; if we subscribe to the truth that the sure
foundations of states are laid in knowledge and not in ignorance ; that
education and morality go hand in hand ; that slavery, polygamy and the
taking of human life upon accepted challenge are eternally wrong,
we may pause for a little to consider that there was a time when these
truths were not generally conceded even in Illinois; that strong men
were compelled to battle for their establishment and the best history
of that time is the record of the acts and doings of those rugged char-
acters who stood for the first generation of our history as a State in
the front of the conflict waged over these important questions. I in-
vite your attention to one of these characters, John Mason Peck, and
to his most enduring work, the college founded by his efforts.
HIS EARLY LIFE.
John Mason Peck was of Puritan parentage, and spent the first
eighteen years of his life in Litchfield, Conn., the place of his birth.
The common school at that time was the pride of Connecticut. In
such school young Peck spent his winters and in the summers he
worked on the farm.
Married at the age of twenty, he began teaching and preaching.
Always a student, his habits of industry acquired in that New England
home fixed his ravenous mind at once upon the various subjects from
spelling and geography to Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and the
sciences. Competent teachers were not plentiful then as now and ex-
cept a few months spent in the seminary at Philadelphia his studies
were self-directed.
Thus under difficulties, which would have appeared insurmountable
to ordinary men, he extended his researches to additional fields of
human knowlege, including a considerable grasp of the science of
medicine.
In 1817 occurred the important event of his selection by the Ameri-
can Baptist Foreign Missionary Society to undertake the establishment
of a western mission with headquarters at St. Louis. His field of labor
extended over the entire Mississippi valley and he actually traveled as
far north as Michigan and Wisconsin and as far south as New Orleans,
but his activities were generally limited to the territory on both sides
of the Mississippi river from Rock Island, 111., to Nashville, Tenn.
The hardships he endured can scarcely now be understood. He
learned the lessons of frontier life so that he knew them as well as an
Indian or a hunter. He could camp out and make himself fairly com-
fortable in an uninhabited forest on a rainy night.
On one occasion he started before daylight and without breakfast
to reach an appointment to preach at the house of a Methodist brother
—10 H S
146
at twelve o'clock, but hindered by blind trails, swollen streams and
other mishaps, he arrived at sunset, found the people waiting and
conducted the service to a conclusion before informing the family that
no food had passed his lips since the previous day.
THE HOME MISSIONARY.
The expressed purpose of the society was "To spread the gospel
and promote common schools." It was the first missionary society in
the whole Mississippi valley. Peck's interest in these two subjects
amounted to a passion. The field was impoverished almost to the
point of absolute destitution. There was not a free school in the
entire valley. There were few schools of any kind. Such as existed
were in the hands of teachers who were immoral or illiterate or both.
He preached December 6, 1818, in the legislative hall in St. Louis
and took up a collection for missionary purposes, the first sermon and
the first collection for missions in the city of St. Louis. In three years
from that date many churches and more than fifty good schools had
been established by Mr. Peck.
The following year, 1822, he removed his family to Rock Spring,
St. Clair county, Illinois, where he resided for the remainder of his
life, and while at intervals he visited the neighboring territory his
chief efforts from this time were given to Illinois.
While these were the general themes about which the work of his
life centered, he gave intelligent consideration to every kindred topic
for more than forty years. Intemperance, slavery, polygamy and the
duelling code became at once the targets for his unerring aim. He be-
lieved that ignorance and infidelity were the fruitful causes of vice and
crime and while he sought, by the establishment of schools and
churches, to improve the people already settled here, he thought to
strike deeper at the root of the matter by controlling to some extent
the character of future immigrants.
In 183 1 he published "Peck's Guide for Immigrants," a volume of
336 pages, replete with useful information. The scholar of today will
read this little book with ever increasing admiration for the author
and will wonder how one of his opportunities could, with such accuracy
of statement, treat so broad a field upon so many subjects. Three
years later he wrote a "Gazetteer of Illinois," containing a general
view of the State and each county, and a particular description of
each town, settlement, stream, prairie, bottom, bluff, etc., alphabeti-
cally arranged.
Both books went through many editions and there is perhaps no doubt
that through the circulation of these volumes Dr. Peck induced more
immigrants to come to Illinois up to i860 than any other man, or any
other single influence.
AGAINST DUELLING.
The practice of duelling, an inheritance from the French nation, had
been received with much favor in the South, and while never popular
in the North, little had been said or done against it in the Mississippi
valley prior to the time of which we write.
147
True, the costly sacrifice of Hamilton's life in 1804 liad shocked
the nation and the sermon of the elder Beecher occasioned by it had
extended his parish throughout the land. True, also, the untimely death
of Rice Jones,* a promising young lawyer of Kaskaskia, in 1809, grow-
ing out of a challenge to fight a duel had resulted one year later in
the adoption of a law by the governor and judges of the territory
making a fatal result in a duel murder and all taking part in it princi-
pals to the crime.
When Mr. Peck came to St. Louis a succession of duels had recently
occurred there and some good men had been sacrificed. He announced
that he would preach upon the subject of dueling. Before the ap-
appointed time two more duels had been fought and two men had died
as the result thereof. He preached from Isaiah 1:15, "Your hands are
full of blood."
Of this sermon he himself has written :
"The old Baptist church house, which stood on the corner of Third and
Market streets, was crowded by all classes, amongst whom I discovered the
Hon. David Barton, then a senator in Congress, whose lamented brother was
one of the victims, and the late Rev. Samuel Mitchell, whose eldest son was
another. I did my utmost to hold up the practice of duelling to the ab-
horrence of all right-minded men as a crime of no small magnitude against
God, against man, against society."
Doubtless the sermon was published in some one or more of the
numerous sheets edited by Mr. Peck and though I have not been able
to find it, we may well believe it deserves to rank among the potential
addresses which make up the literatrue of the time on that subject.
This clarion note of the pioneer was sounded a full generation prior
to the time when those gifted sons of Illinoisf fell upon the Pacific
* Reynolds Pioneer History of Illinois, 173. Parish, Historic Illinois, 334.
tin ttie fifties a band of young men went from Illinois to the Pacific coast — E. D.
Baker, William Ferguson and David Logan from Spriugfleld, Charles E. Lippincott from
Cass county, James A. McDougal from Jacksonville. There they met with numerous
other kindred spirits. Some of them were Whigs and some Democrats, but all were
anti-slavery. The same sort of struggle for possession was going on in California as
in Kansas, and the pro-slavery leaders of the Pacific slope regarded these men who
lived north of the Ohio river as being of the class whom they chose to call cowards.
and they made up their minds that the best way to carry their point was to challenge
them to fight duels and kill them off in relays ; and so they entered into a combination,
that A, B, C and D should in turn challenge Gilbert, Ferguson, Broderick. Baker. Lip-
pincott, Logan and the rest. And Gilbert was killed and Ferguson was killed and
Broderick was killed, and Baker pronounced funeral orations over their dead bodies,
and he stirred the nation on the subject as it had not been stirred before. Strong men
and women who sat at their firesides, from the eloquence of this man on this important
subject, taught their boys new lessons on this particular subject.
Baker was an orator of the finest type. His orations rivaled the best productions
of the orators of history. He said to the American people : "The code of honor is a
delusion and a snare. It palters with the hope of a true courage and binds it at the
feet of crafty and cruel skill. It surrounds its victims with the pomp and grace of the
orocession, but leaves him bleeding on the altar It sulistitutes cold and deliberate
"preparation for courageous and manly impulse, and arms the one to disarm the other.
Its pretense of equality is a lie. It is equal in all the form ; it is unjust in all the
substance. It is a shield emblazoned with the name of chivalry to cover the malignity
of murder."
The speech went ringing through the confines of the nation, and young men and
women took new ideas on the subject.
It was now Lippincott's turn ; and he was challenged to meet a man named Tevis
on that fatal field where Gilbert, Ferguson and Broderick had already fallen. Lip-
pincott was the son of a minister; a young man of fine spirit, reared among the best
of infiuences. He promptly accepted, although it wrung his heart to think of the pos-
sible efCect upon his aged father. He realized that the hated practice of dueling would
continue until some northern man went to that field and came back alive. He scorned
to practice for the occasion, but was known to have an unerring aim. The duel re-
sulted in the death of Tevis, and there were no more challenges from the advocates of
^ ^As'^an evidence that the public conscience was being aroused against duelling, it Is
worth recalling that the man who killed Broderick was in 18S0 a candidate for presi-
.148
slope "tangled in the meshes of the code of honor," a full generation
before Baker's marvelous philippics, pronounced over their dead bodies,
stirred the nation on the subject as it had not been stirred before; a
full generation before Lincoln and Bissell and Potter had through
ridicule and derision induced the American people practically to make
an end of duelling.
THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY.
When Peck came west the people of the Illinois country had been
familiar with slavery for a hundred years. The Frenchman, Renault,
about 1720, had brought a cargo of San Domingo negroes to St.
Phillippe, and during the next twenty years sold or indentured them
to the citizens. A few whites and Indians were already so indentured.
The French government, before this time, had legalized slavery in the
American colonies. The Paris treaty of 1763 contained a provision
by which England confirmed the French inhabitants of Illinois in this
species of property. When the territory was ceded to the United States
in 1784 by Virginia the right was further recognized and protected in
the deed of cession.
Later, when a bill was introduced in Congress, providing for the
abolition of slavery in the territory of the Northwest to be effective
dential elector in California, and enough of his party associates voted against him so
that he was the only defeated candidate on his party ticket. Here was a moral indict-
ment against a duelist a generation after the fact.
About this time the matter was brought into ridicule in various ways. A State
Auditor of Illinois, an Irish gentleman of much vanity, excited the risibilities of two
young ladies in Springfield, who wrote an anonymous paragraph or two in the news-
paper here, at which he took offense. It sought to bring him into some degree of ridi-
cule as a statesman, as a politician.
The article was dated from "The Lost Townships" and was signed "Rebekah." Shields
demanded the name of the author. Another article followed, written by Mr. Lincoln.
Shields again demanded the name of the author. The editor spoke to Mr. Lincoln
about it. Mr. Lincoln said, "Tell him I wrote it."
Shields challenged him to fight a duel. Lincoln promptly accepted, and they started
across the river to fight it out. Lincoln selected broad swords, with a board ten inches
high planted between them. Whenever either party receded more than three feet from
the board he yielded the fight. Shields said that was ridiculous. Lincoln said fighting
duels was ridiculous. The thing came to nothing. Two other challenges grew out of it.
A little later an Illinois colonel, who had commanded an Illinos regiment at Buena
Vista, and then a member of Congress, sat in his seat and listened to a Virginia member
say that the day had been won at Buena Vista by a certain Mississippi regiment. The
Illinois colonel resented that, and proved by the record that the Mississippi regiment
wasn't within a mile and a half of the place where the fight occurred. The commander
of the Mssissippi regiment challenged the Illinois member to fight a duel. He chose
muskets, loaded to the muzzle, at forty paces, the participants to advance ten paces
as long as there were two left. The M'ssissippian stated that was brutal. The Illinois
colonel said fighting duels was brutal. Of course, a courageous Misslsslppan couldn't
fight under those conditions, and so it was called off. The Mississippian was after-
wards president of the southern confederacy and the Ilinois colonel became Governor
of Illinois.
A little later a very large man from Wisconsin was a member of Congress, and a
little man from Virginia took offense at something he said on the floor of the House
and challenged him to fight a duel. These names are so significant to the story that I
give them. The Wisconsin Congressman was named Potter and the Virginian Pryor,
and they went out to fight. While they were gone the House was in session, and a
wag answered for both in their absence ; when Potter's name was called he said, "Gone
to keep a Pryor engagement ;" and when Pryor's name was called he said, "Gone to
be made into" Potter's clay." Potter selected bowie knives. The Virginian said that
wasn't a gentlemanly way to fight. Potter replied there was no gentlemanly way to
fight.
These various incidents furnished the humorous side, the ludicrous side of the duel-
ing question, and Baker's melting eloquence, burning as it went, furnished the senti-
mental side ; and the newspapers of the country took up the question, and nobody since
has had any respect for the duelist.
*From an address delivered by Judge Humphrey in the Baptist Church at Springfield
January 21, 1906.
149
in the year 1800, it was defeated. The territorial authorities passed
laws favorable to the slaveholder. The governor, himself a slave-
holder, enforced the laws in favor §f slavery and used the veto power
against all efforts to abolish slavery or to mitigate the condition of
those subject to its rigors.
When the territory was admitted as a state the legislature promptly
passed a slave code. Perhaps nothing more barbarous or less humane
ever marred our history as a state. By this law freedom and emanci-
pation were made difficult and inconvenient while involuntary servitude
wac made easy and convenient. The effect of the law was such that a
man who was free might under certain circumstances become a slave
by lapse of time. Kidnaping was so difficult of prosecution that it be-
came not only profitable but almost respectable. It cannot be said that
the people of Illinois were opposed to slavery. The state extends far
to the south ; her eastern, southern and western boundaries washed for
hundreds of miles by great rivers all running to the southward, the
only highways of commerce, her commercial relations were early
identified with the slaveholding states, and so with laws favorable to
slavery, with a population which had never voted against slavery, with
state officials and a legislature promoting the interests of slavery, with
the channels of commercial intercourse running chiefly to slaveholding
centers, and with a thousand persons in Illinois actually held in slavery,
Illinois was waiting for a man strong enough to organize the hosts of
freedom as the powers of slavery had long been organized.
The man and the occasion met in 1822 and the man was John M.
Peck. He came to the state in April of that year and the first battle
between the forces of freedom and slavery was fought at the polls in
the following August. The very strength of the slave party became its
weakness. Its votes were divided between two candidates, while the
anti-slavery vote was united on Edward Coles, and he was elected gov-
ernor, although he received less than one-third of the votes cast. The
weakness of the anti-slavery forces at the time is shown by the fact
that the pro-slavery majority in the legislature promptly submitted
for the vote of the people a resolution for a convention to amend the
constitution, the object being to form a constitution in favor of slavery.
When it is understood that no such resolution for a convention to
amend the constitution could even be submitted except by a two-thirds
vote of the members of the General Assembly, the overwhelming ma-
jority of the pro-slavery forces is made further to appear. The sub-
mission to the people was to be at the general election of August,
1824, and now the work or organization for the great struggle was on.
It mattered not to Peck that the prominent men of the state, the
politicians who appeared in the open, were mostly arrayed on the side
of those who favored the convention. Coles, Cook, Birkbeck, a few-
others, himself and the Lord were on the side of fredom.
The anti-slavery party, less numerous than its opponents, far ex-
celled them in literary talent. A small fund was raised into which
went Coles' salary for the entire term. The brilliant Cook had no
1 Moses' History of Illinois, Vol. 1, p. 321.
150
equal on the stump. Birkbeck was a good writer.'^ Peck was omni-
present fighting with voice and pen. This was his opportunity. For
years he had been traveHng the territory and nothing had escaped him.
He knew every locality, who had made it, and who controlled it. No
politician equaled him in acquaintance with the population. As teacher,
preacher, missionary, author and publisher, he had canvassed the field
and his mailing list was extensive and valuable.
He knew the boundaries of Illinois had been fixed by Congress for the
definite purpose of creating an interest with the North and East; that
the new State was dedicated to the work of saving the Union when the
great national struggle between freedom and slavery should come. He
knew Pope's argument on that subject in the house of Congress and
accepted it as the voice of prophecy. He regarded this as the prelim-
inary skirmish of that greater struggle to come and that he himself
had "come to the kingdom for such a time as this." The issue involved
moral questions and furnished a new text for every waking hour. He
spoke with an unction and his arguments carried a "thus saith the
Lord."
peck's battle for freedom.
For eighteen months the battle raged. In the whole Mississippi
Valley there had been such a campaign. While Coles was the nomi-
nal leader. Peck was the real head of the movement and the organiza-
tion was his.^ He established newspapers, printed pamphlets, tracts,
hand-bills. He organized anti-slavery societies, with headquarters in
St. Clair County, and fourteen auxiliary societies in other counties. -
He also organized the counties each with a county central committee
and subordinate committees in every neighborhod, all under his
personal supervision.
He traveled continuously, edited newspapers, distributed documents,
preached and extorted from every rostrum and in every church, school-
house or private residence where his foot rested. His passion fired
the zeal of his brother preachers and thus wherever he went he left
a blazing trail which burned on with ever widening influence until
election day. He also secured the assistance of able writers in other
states, including the noted philanthropist, Roberts-Vaux,^ of Phila-
delphia, where Peck had been a student. Prominent men who had
been in favor of the convention yielded to his influence and joined the
anti-slavery party, or became neutral and half-hearted in the struggle.
The election occurred on Aug. 2, 1824, and resulted in an overwhelm-
ing victory for the party of liberty.
It must be remembered that since the Declaration of Independence
there had been no triumph of freedom against slavery in a political
contest in the United States and the victory was significant. As in-
dicating the fullness of the vote, the record shows that 11,612 persons
voted at the August election and only 4,532 at the presidential election
a few months later.*' It does not appear that Peck ever took part in
* Flowers' History of the English Settlement in Edwards county, 198 et seci.
IW. H. Brown Historical sketch ol the early movement in Illinois for the legalization of
slavery, p. 37.
2Publication 10, Illinois Historical Liibrary, 310.
3Moses History of Illinois, Vol. 1, p. 322.
4Moses History of Illinois Vol. 1, p. 324.
151
any other political campaign or was ever after specially interested in
any election.
That his conduct in this stirring election was able, diplomatic and
dignified is shown by the fact that his old time friendships were re-
tained regardless of party. His influence was much greater after
than before, all recognized that he spoke and acted from con-
viction and his arguments carried conviction. It is believed that no
influence other than his discreet action could have paralyzed the activ-
ities of men like Ninian Edwards and Sidney Breese, who were relied
upon by the convention party, but who did not assist their supposed
friends. No historian since has been able to locate those men in the
campaign of 1824.
peck's work as educator.
I have given at some length his connection with the contest over
slavery, but while it lasted eighteen months, it was only an episode in
Peck's life and did not divert him from his life work. He was a
preacher and a moralist but he could not comprehend a life of religion
and morality unassociated with the best of schools. The educational
idea was a passion with him. This passion possessed him in his youth
and it never left him. Scarcely had he arrived at St. Louis before he
organized a church and a school. He was the pastor of -the church.
He was the teacher of the school. His idea of education was a "mind
trained to habits of thinking, to logical reasoning, to readiness of
speech."^
In 1 8 19 he was planning a school for higher education. He vis-
ited Upper Alton, with a view to such location, then removed his family
to St. Charles, Mo., and opened St. Charles Academy, but the teacher
who filled the various chairs was absent so much on preaching tours
that the school was scarcely born before it died. He had much to do
with the passage of the Illinois school law, passed in 1825. ,
In 1826 he visited the State capital at Vandalia. There he met
many public men and ministers and secured their promise of coopera-
tion to establish an institution of learning at Rock Spring, in St. Clair
county, on ground to be donated by himself. The outside help amount-
ed to little more than a nominal board of trustees. Peck did the work
and carried the burdens.
In 1825 a young man named John Milcot Ellis- was set apart for
gospel work in the Old South Church in Boston. The charge con-
tained the instruction "to build up an institution of learning which
shall bless the west for all time." Ellis came at once to Kaskaskia and
spent the next four years in looking for a proper location for his
school. One day he passed on horseback by Rock Spring aftd found
the brawny Peck chopping logs for a building. "What are you doing
here, stranger?" asked Ellis, and Peck replied, "I am building a theo-
logical seminary."^ A strong friendship ensued. Each cheered and
encouraged the other in his enterprise. Peck visited his friends in New
England and secured a small fund for his new school, and in November,
IBabcocks Life of Tohn M. Peck. 151. „ . . „■ ■ , ^ v, o™
2Roy, Fifty Years of Home Missions, Publication No. 10, Illinois Historical Library, 27S.
3The Pioneer School, a history of Shurtleff Collegre, 33.
152
1827, Rocki Springs Seminary was opened with teachers from the east.
Rev. James Lemen was president of the new school. EUis proceeded
to JacksonVillle, where later, by the help of the Yale Band, the founda-
tion of Illinois College was laid. The average attendance of Rock
Spring Seminary for the first four years was about fifty ; and the total
number enrolled during the time was 242. (Note Peck circular 157.)
I Among th^ students were Ninian Edwards, son of the governor.
Don Morrison of Belleville, and William and Penelope Pope, children
of Nathaniel Pope, then Judge of the United States court of Illinois.^
SHURTLEFF COLLEGE.
A meeting of the board of trustees July 26, 1831, at the residence
of B. F. Edwards, in Edwardsville, was the origin of the removal,
of the school to Upper Alton, a site previously decided upon by Peck
and Dr. John Going, of missionary fame, as a location by reason of
its proximity to the great rivers, suitable to serve the future popu-
lation of Illinois and Missouri. The removal of the library and other
property was made at once and here the school has since been con-
ducted. The first charter was granted under the name of Alton Sem-
inary, but was so restricted in some particulars that Peck was not
satisfied with it and at the session of the Legislature of 1834-5, by
making common cause with Ellis and his associates on behalf of Illi-
nois College and with friends of McKendree College, which had by
that time come into existence, all were given charters more to their
liking. The Peck school was by this enactment called Alton College
of Illinois, and the same year, by reason of what was then considered
a handsome donation from Benjamin Shurtlefif, of Boston, the name
was changed to ShurtleflF College.
To the day of his death the college was dear to him as the apple of
his eye. He taught theology ; he traveled as financial agent. In one
trip he covered 6,000 miles and raised $20,000. He tried by all means
to induce a patronage of worthy students and the last strenuous la-
bors of his life were in behalf of Shurtlefif College. The institution
suffered from the beginning the vicissitudes incidental to the time,
chiefly a lack of funds for the erection of suitable buildings and to
pay the salaries of competent teachers.
From 1836 to 1841 the average attendance was eighty-eight. The
students were mostly the sons of farmers. Less critical than the
farmer boys of today, they, as a rule, made the most of their oppor-
tunities. The teachers were men of unusual mental and moral force,
thoroughly devoted to their work. They came from the east, secured
through Peck's influence, and they left the impress of their strong
personality upon the sturdy young manhood of the western student
body. All honor to those pioneer professors^ Peck, Russel, Loomis,
Colby, Washington Leverett and his brother Warren, Newman, Bulk-
IThe Pioneer School, a history of Shurtleff College, by A. K. deBlois, 40.
2The Pioneer School, a history of Shurtleff College.
jM »••!; » - 1
153
ley, Howes, Read, Fairman, Castle, Kendrick and their many asso-
ciates.^ For the work they accomplished their compensation was
wholly inadequate, even for that day, and insignificant when compared
with the salaries now paid for men of their ability. Many of the young
men earned the entire cost of their college course, tuition, board,
clothing and books by the manual labor they performed during the
interim of college duties.
One illustration : In 1834 a youth of seventeen,- together with his
brother, entered the school without a dollar. For two years he re-
mained and earned his entire expenses by the work of his hands.
Among other labors he performed, he and his brother cleared the
trees and stumps from a new street laid out from Upper Alton to
Middletown, for which they were paid by the authorities. This
young man became one of the greatest lawyers in the west ; was a dis-
tinguished general in the civil war, was Governor of Illinois and
United States Senator. His revered widow remains with us and his
daughter is the secretary of the Illinois State Historical Society.
During the War of the RebelHon the sons of Shurtleff in great
numbers joined the Union army.^ At one time, in the year 1864, the
number in the service was one hundred and forty and the school for
1 — .Tohn Russell, LL.D.. was a teacher at Rock spring from its foundation and
became its principal. He also became principal of Alton Seminary. He was a graduate
of Middleburv College and a teacher by profession.
Hubbell Loomis, born in Connecticut in 1775, was a thorough educator. Became
connected with the school in 1832, was president of the college and retained a general
interest in its work and its students until his death in 1872 at the ripe age of 97. He
was for forty years a mighty influence for good to the young men thus brought in
contact with him. The writer was present at his funeral.
Lewis Colby, a young man of unusual talent, was a professor in the college and
theological department, 1837-40.
Washington Leverett, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, 1836, a
graduate of Brown University, had been a teacher there one year and in Columbian
College, Washington, D. C, one year. He remained in close association with the
college as professor and officer for fifty-three years. He died in 1889, full of years and
Warren Leverett, brother of Washington, professor in the college from 1837 till 1868.
Died in 1872. The writer attended his funeral.
Zenas B. Newman, Shurtleflf professor, 1837 to 1844. _ . ,„^_
Dr Justus Buckley was a tutor in the college prior to his graduation in 184 1. A
man of great pulpit ability. Connected with the college in various capacities ever
after He had known Peck and Loomis in their palmy days and was the trusted friend
of the college until his death in 1898. He attended flfty-one commencements. Few
better or stronger men ever labored in the cause of education.
Oscar Howes, professor of Greek from 1855 to 1875, when he resigned to accept a
professorship in Madison University. „
Daniel Reed, president of the college, 1856 to 1865. A finished scholar and gen-
tleman. , , ., , ^ ^ ii,
Charles Fairman, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. One of the
strongest men ever connected with the college. He had rare skill and gi-eat enthusiasm
as a teacher. The writer acknowledges an indebtedness to Professor Fairman for his
devoted attentions. He was an earnest seeker after the truth in all that he did and
impelled the student to imbibe much of his zeal. He was with the college twenty
Orlando L. Castle came to the chair of rhetoric and belle lettres in 1S53 and
remained with the college until 1892. A grand man, a gentleman of the old school.
His memory and his work remain to us in the person of his son, Professor L. M.
Castle, now principal of the Springfield High School.
Dr A. A. Kendrick, president of the college from 1872 to 1894. To a ripe literary
and theological education he added a course in law. A speaker who secured a ready
hearini^ upon the platform or in the pulpit. During his administration the work of
the college was greatly improved and the endowment increased. ^ „ , . , ,
The writer was a student under Bulkley, Howes. Fairman. Castle and Kendrick and
personally knew all the others except Peck, Russell and Newman.
2Personal recollections of John M. Palmer, 17. The Pioneer School, a History of Shurtleff
College 64
3Th'e Pioneer School, a History of Shurtlefl College, 144.
154
a short time was virtually suspended. Several of these men rose to
distinction as soldiers, becoming majors, colonels, brigadier generals
and two rising to the rank of major generals.
To mention even the names of those who have won distinction in
political or public life as governors of states, judges of supreme
courts, or other courts, United States Senators, members of the House
of Congress, ministers or consuls in the Department of State, sena-
tors or members of state legislatures, ministers of the gospel, mis-
sionaries to foreign lands, lawyers, physicians, college presidents, pro-
fessors, teachers, authors, editors and members of the learned pro-
fessions, would be to call a roll of hundreds, who have gone out from
Shurtlefif College, not including that large army of equally respectable
and useful citizens who have labored for the common weal in less
conspicuous stations of life.
I do not in this paper attempt to deal with the history of the college
beyond that pioneer period covering the influences set in motion by
Dr. Peck. The entire history of the school, down to the year 1900,
has been well written by the late president. Dr. Austin K. DeBlois,
in a volume entitled, "The Pioneer School ; a History of Shurtleff Col-
lege, the Oldest School in the Mississippi Valley." Dr. DeBlois is now
pastor of the First Baptist church in Chicago. ,
Mr. Peck attracted the attention of Harvard University, which in
1852 conferred upon him its honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity,
and in the following year he attended its anniversary exercises as the
guest of the president of the university.^
ASSOCIATION WITH PUBLIC MEN.
Peck knew and had much influence with the public men of his day.
He attended the first constitutional convention at Kaskaskia in 1818,
although not then a citizen of Illinois, and was a familiar visitor at
the sessions of . the General Assembly at Kaskaskia, Vandalia and
Springfield. He repeatedly preached and delivered addresses in the
legislative hall by desire of the General Assembly and on one such oc-
casion at Vandalia the collection taken for him in behalf of Sunday
schools was $260.^ He also on one occasion officiated at the funeral
of a member of the House. He took some part in the removal of the
capitol to Springfield, Upon his arrival at county seats where court
was being held many of the judges requested him to preach in the
court room and adjourned court for the purpose.
He twice visited General Jackson* at the Hermitage, near Nash-
ville, Tennessee. He was a familiar friend of Daniel Boone,^ who was
frequently a member of the congregation where he preached. Later
in 1845 Peck wrote the Life of Boone for "Sparks' American Biog-
raphy." He had an interesting interview with Charles Dickens^* when
the latter was in Illinois in 1842. Every governor of Illinois up to
1858 was his familiar acquaintance and close friend. He was the
IThe Pioneer School.
2Babcocks Life of J. M. Peck. 350.
3Babcock's Life of J. M. Peck, 210.
4Babcocks Life of J. M. Peck. 301. 333.
SBabcock's Life of J. M. Peck, 127. 34L
6Babcocks Life of J. M. Peck, 303.
155
frequent guest of Thomas Carlin^ at his home in Carrollton and
preached at his house. On one such occasion in 1822 Cadin and his
wife professed the Saviour. Judge Reynolds of the supreme bench,
then holding court in CarroHton, was one of the hearers and the fol-
lowing day adjourned court in order that Peck might preach to a
larger audience in the court room. Reynolds became governor in
1830 and Carlin in 1838. Both were the lifelong friends of Peck and
assisted him much in forwarding his great work of the schools and the
gospel, and Governor Reynolds visited him in his last illness and after
his death inscribed a memorial volume to his character.
January 3, 1841, he preached to a large audience in the State house
in Springfield.- It was just after the conclusion of the political cam-
paign of 1840, resulting in the election of Mr. Harrison, and the sermon
applied some of the principles and methods of action used in the presi-
dential contest to moral and religious uses.
In April following upon the death of the president in office, the
first affliction of the kind sufifered by the nation, he preached by re-
quest a national sermon in St. Louis to a vast concourse of people.^
He was closely endeared to Governor Edwards to the day of the
latter's death, and his sermon on that occasion, which has been pre-
served in full, portrays the qualities of an eminent statesman in a
manner to justify the perusal of young men.*
On one occasion, upon returning from a visit to the seat of govern-
ment, where he had been mingling for some time with public men, he
records his estimate of the influence of such association in the words,
"I find them not good for the soul."^
His mind and his hand were alike trained to act promptly and with
efficiency. The students desired to appear in a dramatic performance
at a college exhibition. Dr. Peck with much care and elaboration pre-
pared a drama called "Tecumthe,"® introducing the Indian character,
the scheming British trader, the exposed pioneer settler and the va-
rious surroudings which his perfect knowledge of those characters
enabled him to portray. He did it in such a way that the exhibition
was a decided success.
A boat in which he was a passenger was wrecked by reason of a snag
in the Mississippi river and some lives lost. He had no sooner
escaped than he collected the facts and included them in a memorial
to Congress, which resulted in an appropriation for the removal of
obstructions to navigation in the river.'^
HIS WORK AS A HISTORIAN.
There is one important subject connected with the life and work of
Dr. Peck about which little has ever been said or written. That is his
work as an historian. All his adult life he had been collecting and ar-
ranging historical matter pertaining to Illinois and the west. This
first took concrete form in the "Guide for Emigrants," and "Gazetteer
of Illinois." In addition to these he wrote the "Life of John Clark,"
IBabOock's Life of J. M. Peck. 178.
iiBabcocks Life of J. M. Peck, 293
3Babcocks Life of J. M. Peck, 295.
4Life of Ninian Edwards, 243.
SBabcocks Life of J. M. Peck, 197.
6Babcock's Life of J. M. Peck, 279.
7Same, 331.
156
"Life of Daniel Boone," "Travelers' Directory," "Western Annals,"
and various small works. He also wrote for Reynold's Pioneer His-
tory of Illinois the chapter on the religious and moral history of the
early American Immigrants to Illinois. He lectured repeatedly on
subjects connected with the history of Illinois. He wrote with mar-
velous facility and spoke with ease, volubility and accuracy of state-
ment. The public men of the State looked upon him as the most
capable of their number to prepare a comprehensive history of the new
state and he was urged by many persons of influence to undertake the
work. In January and February, 1837, he delivered two lectures be-
fore the General Assembly at Vandalia, one on the French occupation
of Illinois, 1673-87, and one on the Indian history of Illinois.^ At the
close of the second lecture an organization was formed and resolutions
passed requesting him to write a complete history of Illinois, and a
committee was formed to assist him in collecting materials. He already
had vast quantities of matter for such work.
At different times also resolutions were passed by the Legislature
furnishing him easy access to and copies of all public records and docu-
ments. In 1839, by request of the General Assembly, he delivered a
lecture at Vandalia, on the Conquest of Illinois by George Rogers
Clark. He was prominent in the first efforts to organize a State
Historical Society, and was secretary of the Western Historical So-
ciety, taking in a much broader scope. He was not simply a collector.
He wrote continuously for various periodicals, a series on the Pioneers
of the West for the St. Louis Republican, "Notes on Illinois," for the
National Era ; "Incidents of Illinois," for the Illinois State Journal ;
literary addresses, such as the Battle of Buena Vista, John Quincy
Adams, Elements of Western Character ; indeed, every conceivable va-
riety of addresses on public and historical subjects delivered before col-
leges and other public audiences, kept him bright and up-to-date in the
work of ready historical composition. Still, the bulk of his time was
employed in collecting and arranging for the greater work then in
contemplation, the history of Illinois. This matter was stored in the
seminary building at Rock Spring. In November, 1852, the building
burned and with it burned the work of more than thirty years historical
collecting by the man most capable to make the collection. This so-
ciety will never know the full extent of the loss suffered by that con-
flagration. The senior Lemen in a report to the trustees of Shurtleff
college records that "his diaries and journals fill nearly sixty volumes,
the most of them large folios or quartos,"- and Dr. Peck further
records :^
"My collection of files of papers, periodicals and other pamphlets,
amounting to several thousand volumes, mostly unbound, but carefully
filed, and my mineralogical collection from every part of the country
where I have traveled, thoroughly arranged and labeled, together
with much other matter which I had intended for some public institu-
tion to be preserved for generations to come, these can never be re-
placed."
1 Babcock's Life of Peck, 271-282. 2 Lemen Communication.
3Babcock's Life of Peck, 349.
157
About the time Peck ibegan to collect historical matter, a child was
born in Erie county, New York, who was to become more valuable to
us than any other man in this line of work. I refer to Lyman Cope-
land Draper.^ The latter was educated at Granville, Ohio, where
Peck frequently visited. Whether they met at that place there is no
evidence, but they did meet later. Draper, in 1835, began by corres-
pondence to collect materials similar to those which Peck for many
years had been gathering. In 1840 Draper began that remarkable life
of wandering and collecting which he followed without interruption
for twenty-five years, and at intervals until his death in 1891. Peck
visited Draper as his guest at Madison, Wisconsin, during the last
year of his life, in 1857.^ It would be interesting to know more of the
friendship and associations of the two men. Draper left his entire
collection to the Wisconsin Historical Society and that bequest makes
the Wisconsin society the richest existing treasury of western history.
How valuable it would be to us to have the Peck collections preceding
as they did in time the period covered by the work of Draper.
Circulars Issued by Dr. Peck after the Removai from Rock
Spring to Upper Alton.
For many years past individuals in the "far west" have perceived
and deeply felt the necessity of an institution for ministerial and
general education in connection with the Baptist denomination, and of
adopting seasonable measures for the attainment of that object. In
1826 an individual made the attempt, raised about $750 in the eastern
states, with books, various articles of bed clothing, etc., and with
further aid received in Illinois, put up some cheap buildings, and the
institution at Rock Spring, St. Clair county, Illinois, was opened in
November, 1827. It continued in operation, with ordinary vacations,
till May, 183 1, when it was closed from the ill health of the person
then in charge of it.
This incipient effort, carried farward without adequate funds, with-
out permanent provision for competent instruction, furnished proof
that a well regulated literary institution, properly conducted, would
prove of immense service in this country to the cause of religion, and
have a direct influence upon other measures designed to promote the
well being of society.
During the continuance of the Rock Spring seminary, 242 youth,
male and female, attended as students for various periods of time.
Of these 33 professed to be converted while at the seminary, and 20
more after they had left it, many of whom dated their first serious
impressions at that institution. Including such students as have since
commenced the gospel ministry with those who were licensed preachers
when they entered the seminary, and the number is eleven. Of this
class one is deceased, one has been silenced and excluded from
the church, but is now restored, two belong to the Methodist Episcopal
church, and the remainder to the Baptists.
ILyman Copeland Draper, a memoir by Reuben Gold Thwaites, from reprint edition of
Volume 1. Wisconsin Historical Collections.
2Babcock"s Life of J. M. Peck 358.
158
One of these is occupying- a most important missionary field in
Louisiana, under the patronage of the American Baptist Home Mis-
sion Society. Many others of the former students of Rock Spring
Seminary have been and continue to be useful teachers or superinten-
dents in Sabbath schools.
Out of the whole number, sixteen are known to be dead, of which
ten gave hopeful evidences of piety.
In 1830, from various circumstances combined, the public mind in
Illinois was directed to the town of Alton as a commercial depot for
an extensive portion of the State. Two town sites had been previously
located, one on the river called Lower Alton, the other on elevated
ground two miles and a half in the rear.
LTpon the visit of the Rev. Mr. Going to this country in 183 1, a
proposition was made by a number of friends to remove the location
of the seminary from Rock Spring to Alton.
After due consideration the proposition was accepted and the books,
bed clothing and other movable property were transferred under the
name of a loan, till such time as the affairs of the old institution could
be adjusted, the buildings sold, and the avails transferred to Alton.
At a meeting held in Alton, June 4, 1832, seven gentlemen formed a
compact and entered into a written obligation to advance each $100
(which they subsequently increased to $125) and to become jointly
obligated for a loan of $800 more. With a part of this sum they pur-
chased a valuable tract of land adjoining Alton of 122 acres for $400,
and entered in the land office at government price ($1.25 per acre)
240 acres more in the rear of their first purchase.
Some subscriptions were then obtained from the citizens, and a two-
story brick building, 40 feet by 32, with stone basement story, was
erected and nearly finished. The cost of this building has been
$1,625. They have sustained within it a respectable school for the
common and higher branches of education having had from 25 to 60
scholars, from December, 1833, to the present time.
Of the present number, which exceed 50, seven are young men of
promising talents, members of the .Baptist church, three of whom are
licensed preachers, and others are contemplating this work.
Memorial to Dr. John M. Peck, Communicated by Rev. James
Lemen, Sr., for Use of the Board of Trustees
OF Shurtleff College.
1857. "
Dr. John Peck was born in the parish of Litchfield, South Farm,
Connecticut, Oct. 31, 1789. In the twentieth year of his age he married
Miss Sarah Paine, who made him a discreet, faithful, self-denying
wife, with whom he lived almost half a century, by whom he had
seven sons and two daughters, and who preceded him in death but a
short period. Shortly after his marriage both he and his companion
made a public profession of religion, and united with the Congrega-
159
tional church in his native town. Soon after he removed to Green
county, New York. He then became acquainted with some pious, well
informed Baptists, through whose influence he became dissatisfied with
his early supposed baptism. His mind became intensely exercised ;
he searched diligently all the books within his reach, consulted ex-
tensively the learned advocates of Pedo-Baptist usages, became per-
fectly satisfied that immersion was the only scriptural mode of bap-
tism, and impelled by a determination ever to do his duty regardless
of consequences, he and his companion put on the Lord Jesus Christ
in baptism, according to the original institution. In the autumn of
1817, he, with his wife, and one child, accompanied by the Rev. James
E. Welch, removed to the "great west," as the Mississippi valley was
then called. They were under the appointment of the Board of Mis-
sions, both having received previous suitable training under the dis-
tinguished Dr. Stoughton. For the space of four years Dr. Peck,
with indefatigable industry and energy, performed an incredible
amount of labor in the state of Missouri, in the prosecution of his mis-
sionary duties, traveling, preaching, lecturing, organizing week-day
and Sabbath schools, and circulating religious tracts and periodicals.
Nor did he confine his labors to the few civilized Americans upon the
field but extended them to the Indians and negroes. In 1821 this
faithful ambassador removed to Illinois and located at Rock Spring,
which became his home during life. Soon after his settlement at Rock
Spring he organized a theological and high school, which under his
faithful administration prospered for several years. At one time it
numbered more than one hundred students. Some of our most talented
ministers of the gospel and some of our most 'distinguished politicians
received their education at this institution. The unwearied efforts of
our departed brother in favor of Rock Spring Seminary and of Shurt-
leff College afford unmistakable proof of his interest in the cause of
education. He was capable of placing correct value upon education,
being himself profoundly learned. The honorary title of D. D. con-
ferred upon him by one of our oldest and most distinguished universities
was well merited. His vast store of learning was the result of his
own personal efforts, without the aid of money, friends or institu-
tions of learning, if we except some ten or twelve months training
under Dr. Stoughton of Philadelphia. The principal part of his edu-
cation was acquired after he began his labors as a minister of the
gospel. The great want of early training which he experienced when
he entered the ministry, with the difficulties which he encountered
in obtaining suitable qualifications for the successful discharge of the
important labors of his sacred trust, doubtless produced in him that
readiness which he constantly exhibited through life to aid young
ministers of the gospel, who were striving under adverse circum-
stances to acquire that intellectual discipline that would make them
able ministers of the New Testament; and this influenced him at his
death to bequeath the avails of his forthcoming biography to the noble
purpose of educating indigent ministers. Had Elder Peck with his
superior talents and boundless store of original knowledge, directed
his attention to the study of the law, he might have stood at the head
i6o
of the bar at any court of the United States, or have filled some of the
highest offices in our government ; or, had he been ambitious to accumu-
late riches, with his personal acquaintance with rich capitalists of the
east and tempting opportunities for speculation in the west, he might
easily have amassed an independent fortune. But the affection
which he cherished for his Master and his Master's cause, with the
responsibilities of the exalted station which he was occupying, induced
him to shut his ears to every trump of earthly fame, and to close his
eyes upon the deceitful and perishable toys of wealth. Like Moses,
"He chose rather to suffer affliction with the children of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." That our lamented brother
was not only an able minister, but also an able defender of the
gospel, the labors both of his tongue and his pen have abundantly
proven. That he was faithful, industrious and self-sacrificing in the
discharge of his responsible duties, the multiciplicity of his labors afford
ample testimony. Were his correspondence, dairies, journals, sermons,
expositions, addresses, debates, lectures and printed volumes all col-
lected in one mass, it is questionable whether the works of any in-
dividual minister of the gospel, from the days of Paul, would exhibit
an equal amount. His diaries and journals fill nearly sixty volumes,
the most of them large folios, or quartos, while the letters he wrote
and received amounted sometimes to a thousand a year. His account
shows that in publishing the "Pioneer," and similar publications, he
sacrificed from his own hard earnings the sum of $2,500.00, all spring-
ing from a desire to benefit his fellow men. In his manners. Elder
Peck seemed to exhibit a degree of coldness, yet he possessed a warm
heart and deeply sympathized with those in distress. He was noble,
generous and charitable in disposition. He scorned either national
or sectional distinctons. He looked upon the various nations of the
earth as composing one common family, and regardless of either
country or complexion, wished to extend the benefit of his labors to
all. His numerous contributions to foreign missions bespoke the
interest he felt for the welfare of the perishing heathen. His frequent
visits to the Indian academy in Kentucky, with the assistance he af-
forded in the adoption and execution of a system of Indian education,
evnced the interest he had in the prosperity of the aboriginees of our
country. The labors he performed in the city of St. Louis among the
people of color, with the bequest he has made in his will for the colo-
nization of Africans in the land of their ancestors, clearly demonstrates
the desire he felt for the ameHoration of the condition of this down-
trodden race.
The nearer Dr. Peck approached his dissolution, the more devotional
he became. He preached his last sermon from the advices of Joseph
to his brethren. "See that ye fall not out by the way." The affection-
ate and wholesome counsel which he imparted, both to ministers and
church members, will be long remembered by those who heard him.
His last associational address was well calculated to remind the listen-
ers of the discourse delivered by Moses at the foot of Mt. Nebo, just
before he ascended the mount to dwell with God. The last time he at-
tended public worship he preached to his church ,and closed with the
i6i
words of Simeon : '*Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,
according to Thy word ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation," and
bursting into a flood of tears, he took his seat. He met the king of
terrors with undaunted courage; with a composure of mind seldom
witnessed on any occasion. He gave particular directions, both in
regard to his burial and funeral exercises, even having procured his
coffin two or three days before his death. Thus having all things in
readiness, he departed this life a few minutes before 9 :oo P. M.,
March 15, 1858. The night of his death was dark and cloudy, but he
needed not the light of the natural sun ; the beams of the uncreated
sun gilded his path to his far-off home. On the following day, accord-
ing to his own request, a funeral sermon was preached by James
Lemen, Sr., Dr. Crowell, of St. Louis, and W. F. Boyakin, of Belleville,
were present and assisted in performing the solemn services. His re-
mains were interred by the side of his pious wife in Rock Spring ceme-
tery. Twenty-nine days afterward, they were removed to the city of
St. Louis ; a second funeral service was then performed. Dr. Crowell
delivered an appropriate commemorative discourse. A great multitude
of friends followed his body to the Bellfontaine cemetery and there
deposited it to wait the reward of the resurrection.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."
Rev. John Mason Peck.
By James Affleck.
No man was better known in the west than Rev. John Mason Peck
in his day. He possessed a strong, vigorous intellect in an eminent
degree, and an energy that shrank from no labor and research within
his power. He united with the Baptist church in the state of New
York, and in 1817 was appointed a missionary of the Baptist General
Convention to the west. He went immediately to St. Louis and was
for some years an itinerant missionary in Missouri and Illinois. In
182 1 he located with his family at Rock Spring, where he established
a seminary by money he raised in the east. He had charge of the
seminary for some two years as principal. He published, in 1834,
"A Gazetteer of Illinois and Emigrant's Guide," that induced a large
emigration froin the older states to Illinois and other parts of the
west. In 1835, Shurtleff College, of Alton, was founded by his exer-
tions, and Rock Spring Seminary was transferred to that institu-
tion. It was said that during that year Mr. Peck traveled 6,000 miles
and raised $20,000 for endowment of Shurtlefit" College. He was ap-
pointed corresponding secretary and general agent for the American
Baptist Publication Society, with his residence at Philadelphia, Pa.
After two years he returned to his family at Rock Spring. In 1829
he published a Baptist paper at Rock Spring, called "The Pioneer."
the first Baptist paper published in the west, which he continued for
—II H S
l62
ten or twelve years, and in his appeals to the church for aid he always
said he was at considerable loss. He contributed largely to the dif-
ferent periodicals and edited "Annals of the West." Mr. Peck, in
connection with John Messinger, published a sectional map of Illinois,
embracing many new features in maps. The Sunday school found in
Mr. Peck a most efficient supporter. The temperance cause may hail
him as its best friend. Morality and religion were greatly advanced
by his untiring exertions in. Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky, where he
kept up his missionary work and preaching at frequent intervals for
many years. Mr. Peck took an active part in 1823-4 in defeating the
movement for holding a convention to alter or change the State con-
stitution in order to establish slavery in Illinois. By his individual ex-
ertions and personal efforts he was greatly instrumental in saving the
State to freedom. Being an agent of the American Bible Society, his
duties led him into different portions of the State, where he could and
did perform the double duty if distributing the scriptures and anti-
slavery principles at one and the same time.
The records here, in the Baptist Church, show that Mr. Peck was
called, in 1840, as pastor, served one year and nine months and then
resigned. He was again called to preside over this (Belleville) church
on the 2ist of November, 1847, ^^^^ served one year. In 1847 he was
a candidate for delegate to the convention called to revise our State
constitution — George Bunsen and John McCully were the Democratic
nominees for that position,. Mr. Peck ran as an Independent Whig, and
knew more of the history and wants of Illinois than both his opponents,
but was badly defeated. Coming from the state of Connecticut, the hot-
bed of Yankeedom and Abolitionism, Mr. Peck was not accorded a
very cordial reception here by some of the Baptist ministers ; especially
the Lemens, Kinney s and the Badgleys. Mr. Peck convinced them
that he was a regularly ordained Baptist minister and was entitled to-
their brotherly kindness and ministerial courtesy, but they never
mingled much together. He was a favorite with the literary class
and higher circles of society; was a frequent visitor of Governor Ed-
ward's the third Governor of Illinois, and baptized two of the Gov-
ernor's children, Mrs._ Daniel P. Cook and Ninian Wirt Edwards. Gov-
ernor Edwards died of cholera on the 20th day of July, 1833, and Mr.
Peck preached his funeral sermon, in the court house in Belleville, to
a very large concourse of people.
Thomas Carlin, the sixth Governor of Illinois, became concerned
about religion through the preaching of Mr. Peck, joined the Baptist
Church at Carrollton and was baptized by immersion by Mr. Peck.
Mr. Peck suffered a very serious loss by fire, in the destruction of his
manuscripts, pamphlets, papers and other very valuable printed matter,
the accumulations of a lifetime, which were stored in a room that
caught fire, and all were destroyed.
In the history of John M. Peck, how much of adventure, of peril, of
lifelong devotion, of the truest heroism, a preacher and missionary of
the Baptist Church for more than forty years ; poorly fed, illy paid, con-
stantly traveling over a country destitute of roads and bridges. Dur-
ing the last vear or two of his life he was too feeble to stand while
i63
preaching and had to speak from a seat. The story of the early-
preacher is a tale of the heroic age, a type of a class that has almost
passed away.
His family consisted of his wife and seven children ; five sons and
two daughters. None of his children inherited the energy and "push"'
of the father. They all survived him, but are unknown outside
their immediate neighborhoods. Mr. Peck died at Rock Spring, St.
Clair county, Illinois, and was buried in Bellfontaine cemetery, St.
Louis. There is a neat column of marble erected over his remains.
It is ten or twelve feet high, with the following inscription carved on
it: "John Mason Peck. Born at Litchfield South Farms, Connecti-
cut, October 31, 1789; died March 15, 1858. My witness is in heaven;
my record is on high."
Belleville, Illinois, May, 1895.
1 64
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE EARLY
PHYSICIANS OF ILLINOIS.
By John H. Hollister, M. D.
The conspicuous part borne by the medical profession during the
formative period of the State of IlHnois was such as to render it not
only desirable but essential that historic sketches of many of its promi-
nent members should find a place in the history of the State and in the
archives of the Illinois State Historical Society. During a period of
more than fifty years of medical practice in the State, it has been the
writer's privilege to have enjoyed a pleasant acquaintance with nearly
all of the physicians to whom reference in this article is made. He
has been fortunate in securing data pertaining to a few of the very
early physicians, who came and went before his time, and yet there are
unwritten histories of many such who were prominent in those older
days, which in justice to their memories should find a place in the
medical history of the State. It is to be hoped that further research
in this direction will prove still more successful.
The initial work is already well begun, as in the histories of Dr.
Robert Boal by Dr. J. F. Snyder, ex-president of this society, of Dr.
Conrad Will, "the forgotten Statesman" by the same writer, and of Dr.
George Cadwell by Mr. R. W. Mills, as they appear in the Transactions
of this society in the years 1904 or 1905. It may not be out of place
to refer to the paper of Mr. Mills contained in Publication No. 10,-
1905, to show how early in the history of this State, its Legislature
placed on record its estimate of incompetent physicians and to note the
agency of Dr. Cadwell in securing that expression .
In 182 1, so says Mr. Mills, Dr. Cadwell then a member of the Legis-
lature, secured the passage of an Act for the establishment of a Medical
Society, which provided for the division of the State into four medical
districts, making the physicians in each district a body-corporate and
making it their duty to meet at stated intervals to exarnine students
and grant diplomas to such as were qualified to practice medicine.
Also, that no one should practice medicine except those possessed of
a medical diploma from one of these societies or from some respectable
university in the L"'^nited States. It also required registeration of births
and deaths and provided a method of relief in case of excessive charges
for medical services. This action of the Legislature is here reproduced
to show how far legislative restrictions in 182 1 antedated the creation
of our present State Board of Health which has been doing admirable
work along the same line.
DR. JOHN H. HOLLISTBR.
i65
It is impossible in continuing the historic work so well begun, to
establish an absolute line of demarkation between the very "early
physicians" and those who followed a little later, or to present them in
either alphabetical or chronological order. The writer ventures to
draw a purely arbitrary line at the year i860 and to include, with "early
physicians" those who were in active practice in the State previous to
that date. It is also impossible to include within the limits of this
paper the histories of a large number of those who have equal claims
to a place in this connection, in the historic records. Doubtless in due
time, their proper recognition will be secured.
In the preparation and grouping of these sketches, it has seemed
that so far as possible they should be prepared by surviving friends
and accordingly in answer to personal requests, a number of these have
been thus secured and are here first presented for publication. In other
cases recourse has been had to sketches already published from which
transcript and abstract have been made. Among the writings so con-
sulted and from which citations have been made, the writer is especially
indebted to those contained in The Transactions of the Illinois State
Medical Society, the publishing house of Munsell & Co. of Chicago, in
their "Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois," "Distinguished American
Physicians and Surgeons," Early Medical Chicago, by Dr. J. Nevins
Hdye, and the Chicago Clinic and Pure Water Journal. So far as
possible permission for such citations has been secured.
Such has been the prominence of many of the men here referred to,
that justice to their memories demands for them far more ample
notice than is here printed, and it is to be presumed that for such,
special papers will yet be prepared, more fully expressive of their
work and worth. Those solicited for this article, appear in the main as
prepared by their authors, and the writer desires gratefully to acknowl-
edge the assistance so kindly rendered.
Other chapters pertaining to the early physicians remain to be writ-
ten and when such a history is in a measure complete, it will be more
evident than now how largely the influence of the medical profession
has been felt in giving moral tone to society, in the development of
educational institutions, in the establishment of hospitals, in the pro-
motion of sanitary science and in active service in securing legislation,
having for its purpose the extermination of medical quackery, the pro-
motion of the health of the community at large and the control of pre-
ventable dseases.
The following historical sketches are herewith submitted for the con-
sideration of the Society and for such action as may be deemed ap-
propriate :
Dr. Edmund Moore.
Dr. Edmund Moore, a pioneer physician and surgeon of Morgan
county, was born in Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland, May 26, 1798,
a son of Lewis and Ellen (Lockwood) Moore. The paternal ancestry
of the family is Scotch-Irish. Dr. Moore's mother was a descendant
of the historic Shannon family, and had two brothers who attained
great distinction in British military and naval affairs. One of these,
:66
a lieutenant under Nelson, commanded a ship at the battle of the
Nile, and also fought at the battle of Copenhagen and at Trafalgar,
where Nelson was killed. He died at the Soldiers' Home at Green-
wich. Another brother, who became a general in the British army,
was in the East India service for many years, and died while in the
East, the husband of an East Indian princess.
When Edmund Moore was an infant in arms, his parents came to the
United States, locatfng temporarily at Frankfort, Ky. Soon after-
ward "they removed to Florida, then a Spanish colony, and subse-
quently to Louisiana, then under French dominion, remaining about
five years in the two provinces. Returning to Bloomfield, Nelson
county, Ky., the elder Moore took up a tract of land and spent the re-
mainder of his life there. There Edmund Moore was also reared and
educated. After reading medicine under the supervision of Dr. Bemis
at Bardstown, Ky., and attending lectures at Louisville, he began prac-
tice under a state license at Rockport, Ind., remaining there until his
removal to Morgan county. 111., in 1827. Here he was examined and
licensed by the State of Illinois. Upon arriving in Morgan county he
purchased a tract of land located about one mile east of the farm now
owned by George W. Moore, his son, erected a cabin, and occupied
that place about six years, practicing his profession and improving his
farm. In 1833 he located on Section 29 of the same, township, where
he spent the balance of his life, dying there May 29, 1877.
Dr. Moore was a splendid specimen of manhood, mentally and phy-
sically. He typified the "doctor of the old school," immortalized by
Ian MacLaren, the Scotch novelist ; for, during the half century of his
residence in Morgan county, he was called upon to perform a vast
amount of professional work for which he expected and received no
remuneration. His practice necessitated very extensive rides through-
out the surrounding country, and his trips to relieve suffering human-
ity were frequently attended by great personal risk, through exposure
to the elements in a wild and sparsely settled country. Most of his
early practice was accomplished on horseback, with the old-fashioned
saddlebags. For many years there were no other physicians in his
.neighborhood, and it was not infrequently the case that he was called
to ride as far south as Edwardsville. Many of his rides covered a dis-
tance of sixty miles or more from his home. He became an acknowl-
edged expert in the diagnosis and treatment of the fevers and other dis-
eases peculiar to the Illinois and Mississippi valleys. During the Black
Hawk war he was surgeon of the Third Regiment of Illinois troops,
which rendezvoused but was not called into active service. During the
war of 181 2 he had endeavored to enlist for the service under General
Harrison in the Canadian campaign, but was' not accepted on account
of his delicate health.
Dr. Moore was well acquainted with Abraham Lincoln as a boy and
man. While practicing- his profession in Spencer county, Ind., he was
frequently called upon to attend the Lincoln family, but lost sight of
the future president after his own removal to Morgan county. After
Lincoln's ' election to' Congress, the two men met one day on the
fetreets of Jacksonville, when the former, extending his hand to Dr.
i67
Moore, asked him if he did not remember his former patient. The
doctor finally recognized him and in later years reverted to the incident
with feelings of great pleasure.
Though deeply interested in public matters, the only office which Dr.
Moore ever consented to fill was that of township treasurer of school
funds. A Whig in early life, he became a Republican upon the
founding of that party, voted for John C. Fremont for the presidency,
in re'igion, stanchly devoted to Presbyterianism, he served as an elder
in the Pisgah Presbyterian church for about thirty years.
Dr. Moore was married November 30, 1823, to Mary O'Neal, who
was born near Bardstown, Ky., May 18, 1796, a daughter of Bryant and
Ann (Cotton) O'Neal. Her father was born in Ireland, accompanied
his parents to Virginia, was reared in that colony, and afterward re-
moved to Kentucky. He served in the Revolutionary war, and for his
patriotism and service, received from Patrick Henry, then Governor
of Virginia, (which included the territory now embraced within the
limits of Kentucky), title to a tract of valuable land near Bardstown,
Ky. Bryant O'Neal fought under St. Clair when the latter was de-
feated by the Indians in the Ohio campaign, and also under General
Wayne at the battle of Fallen Timbers, near Fort Wayne. His son
Thomas, the only brother of Mary O'Neal, saw valiant service in the
war of 1812. He fought throughout Harrison's campaign, helped to
defeat the British forces at the battle of the Thames, where Proctor
surrendered and Tecumseh was killed, and personally assisted in the
capture of the noted British general. He held a commission as ser-
geant-major in a regiment of dragoons. It is worthy of note that Ann
Cotton O'Neal was an eye-witness to a battle between the British and
Continental forces during the revolution, which occurred in her father's
wheat field in Fairfax county, Va.
A romantic incident of the revolutionary period is related by George
W. Moore, and is here preserved for the first time in print. During
an engagement between the British and Colonial troops near the home
of the Cotton and the O'Neal families in Fairfax county, Va., a British
soldier who had received a serious bullet wound in the abdomen,
dragged himself to the Cotton home and asked for a drink of milk.
This was furnished to him by Mrs. Cotton, who invited the sufferer
into the house that he might receive the care and treatment necessary
to his recovery. The milk that he drank passed from his digestive
organs through the wound, soothing it and eventually curing him. He
remained at the Cotton home, and ultimately transferred his allegiance
to the patriot cause.
Dr. William B. Herrick.
Dr. William B. Herrick, first president of the Illinois State Medical
Society, was born at Durham, Maine, September 20, 1813. He was the
eldest son of lacob and Abigail Scott Herrick. His father, and also his
grandfather, Rev. Jacob Herrick, were both men of liberal education and
culture, and of considerable local influence. His earlier educational
advantages were such as the neighborhood district school afforded. He
i68
also had a great fondness for books, which he indulged and stimulated
by reading works of standard authors, which he found in the libraries
of his father and that of his grandfather, who was then the village
minister. At the age of sixteen years he began life for himself as a
school teacher. From this time his education was acquired by his own
exertions. After attending for a time the Gorham Academy at Gorham,
Maine, he determined to adopt the medical profession. He attended
medical lectures at Bowdoin and Dartmouth colleges, and graduated
from the medical department of the latter institution November i6,
1836.
Immediately after his graduation he took charge of the practice of
Dr. McKeen. at Topsham, Maine, during his absence for a year in
Europe.
In 1837 he came west, settling in Louisville, Kentucky. He was then
appointed assistant demonstrator of anatomy in the Louisville Medical
College. In 1839 he became a resident of Hillsboro, Illinois.
In the following year he was married to Martha J. Seward, daughter
of John B. Seward, one of the early settlers of the State. After a res-
idence of four years in Hillsboro he determined to seek a wider
field, and in 1844 he removed to Chicago. During the first year of his
residence in that city he was invited to fill the chair of anatomy in
Rush Medical College. This position he occupied until the year 1857,
when the failure of his health compelled him to abandon the practice
of his profession. During this time he also filled the chair of surgery
in the same institution during a temporary absence of Professor Brain-
ard in Europe. At the breaking out of the Mexican war Professor
Herrick received the appointment of assistant surgeon in the ist Regi-
ment of Illinois Volunteers. Although appointed assistant surgeon,
he in fact performed from the first the duties of surgeon of his regi-
ment. He was in General Wool's division, and took part in the battle
of Buena Vista. After this battle the sick and wounded were separated
into two divisions, one of which was placed under his care and trans-
ferred under his charge to Saltillo. Here he had charge of the general
hospital, till, on account of ill health, he was obliged to return north,
and finally to resign his commission, which he did May 24, 1847.
Returning to Chicago, though broken in health, he entered again
upon the active practice of his profession and the duties of his position
in the medical college. From this time until the year 1857 his life as a
practitioner, as a teacher, and as a citizen, was an active one. He was
specially active in the formation and development of medical interests
in the city and State. He was one of the organizers of the Illinois
State Medical Society, and was chosen its first president. He was also
an active and prominent Freemason, and during the year 1856 held
the position of grand master of that organization.
Dr. Herrick never recovered from the sufferings and sickness of his
Mexican campaign. During the years which followed he was the vic-
tim of a painful and severe nervous disease, which gradually under-
mined his constitution until his health was completely broken, and in
the year 1857 he was compelled to abandon active life and to seek a
change of climate. In that year he returned to his native state with
his family, and resided there in retirement until his death, which oc-
curred December 31, 1865.
i69
It will be seen from this brief sketch that Dr. Herrick's position and
success were obtained before his forty-fourth year amid the difficulties
of failing health. His success and the qualities which contributed to
it cannot be more fittingly summed up than in the language of a tribute
paid to his memory by his professional brethren. The following is
taken from the report of the committee on necrology, submitted to the
Illinois State Medical Society at its nineteenth anniversary meeting,
held in Chicago, May 20, 1869 :
"His worth and winning address advanced him rapidly to the very front
rank of his profession, and his high position, accorded him by common con-
sent, was held without seeming effort as long as health permitted him to
practice his profession. * * * He became at once one of the master spirits
of our State as a medical teacher. * * * r^^n ^jjg present generation
shall pass away his name will be a dear household word in many of the first
families of Chicago, who became ardently attached to him as their family
physician. * * * To him seemed accorded by common consent positions
and honors which others with effort might fail to obtain. Possessed of rare
physical and mental developments. Professor Herrick was a man of noble
bearing and winning address. Genial and kind of heart, friendship among
his friends ripened to affection, so that for few men has there been shown
that warmth of personal attachment. As a thinker he was profound, logical
and original. As a teacher, happy in the communication of his ideas, and
instruction in every utterance. His genial good nature and kindness of heart
endeared him especially to the junior members of the profession. None of
us turned ever to him for sympathy, counsel or material help in vain. This,
with his great professional worth, so endeared him to the hearts of the
younger medical men of Illinois that the name of William B. Herrick is held
with special endearment by all the junior physicians who knew him."
Alexander Wolcott, M. D.
In 1804 John Kinzie had left his trading post on St. Joseph river in
Michigan to settle at the point where Chicago was yet to be and where
his eldest daughter Eleanor Marion Kinzie afterwards to become the
wife of Dr. Wolcott, was born in 1805. In the same year that John
Kinzie settled at this point, Fort Dearborn was being constructed but
on the army roll as surgeon, no name appeared until that of Dr. John
Cooper in 1810. Here in 1812 the massacre of the troops at the garri-
son occurred and the lamented surgeon Dr. Van Voorhies then on duty
fell a victim of Indian atrocity on that memorable day. For years a
death pall had settled on the place until in 1816 Fort Dearborn was
again occupied by United States soldiers and the names of Dr. John
Dale and Dr. McMahon appear on the roster as surgeons.
Dr. Alexander Wolcott became a resident of the Chicago hamlet in
1820 having been appointed by the federal government as Indian agent
for the northwest and stationed near Fort Dearborn. He was a native
of Windsor, Conn., and was born in February, 1790. In 1809 he was a
graduate of Yale College and in 1812 he was surgeon mate in the
United States army. The year of his arrival was memorable by
the voyage of Gen. Lewis Cass, then governor of Michigan and resid-
ing at Detroit accompanied by Mr. Schoolcraft of Macinac. They
skirted the entire shore of the lower peninsula of Michigan and in
which voyage Dr. Wolcott was their companion. At the conclusion
of the celebratgd treaty which was consummated in 1821 Dr. Wolcott
170
had so far gained confidence of the Indian tribes as to bear a conspicu-
ous part in the conchision of the treaty and his services were especially
recognized by the general government. This treaty led to the estab-
lishment of garrisons farther west and in 1823 the troops at Fort
Dearborn were withdrawn.
Dr. Wolcott was left in charge of the property of the government
until the fort was re-occupied by troops in 1828.
In July, 1823, Dr. Wolcott was married, as before stated, to Miss
Eleanor Marion Kinzie, the eldest daughter of John Kinzie. Although
others have aspired to the honor of being the first white child born in
Chicago it is generally conceded that it should be accorded to Miss
Eleanor Marion Kinzie.
After Dr. Wolcott closed his relations with the general government
he still continued to reside near the old "Kinzie House" on the north
side of the city until his death which occurred in 1830. His official
duties were discharged with utmost ability and it was largely through
his influence that further depredations by the Indians were prevented,
and had his life been prolonged for two years more there might have
been no "Black Hawk War."
Elijah D. Harmon, M. D.
Dr. Harmon was the first physician not sent hither by the United
States government to settle in Chicago as a practicing physician. He
came to this place in May, 1830, a few months previous to the death
of Dr. Alexander Wolcott. He was born in Bennington, Vermont,
Aug. 20, 1782, and commenced medical practice in Bennington, Ver-
mont, in 1806. In 1808 he was married to Miss Welthyem Loomis.
In 1812 he served as a volunteer surgeon on the Saratoga, Capt. Mc-
Donough's flagship, and was on board in the celebrated naval battle
near Plattsburg in 18 14. Later, for two years, he resumed medical
practice in Burlington and in 1816 was appointed postmaster of that
place. He then determined to locate on the western frontier and came
to Fort Dearborn. The next year his family followed him and he ten-
dered his services to the few families as a general practitioner. In
1832 occurred what is known as the "Black Hawk War" during which
time Dr. Harmon was most active as a practitioner, but when the chol-
era broke out he also had medical charge of an isolated camp of United
States soldiers two miles distant from the fort. During the period
from 1832 to 1834, Dr. Harmon was actively engaged in medical prac-
tice and he became noted for the successful performance of some im-
portant surgical operations. During this time he located 140 acres of
land in the south division of Chicago and Harmon Court was so named
in his honor. In 1834 he became largely interested in business enter-
prises in the state of Texas and spent a large portion of each year there
until the date of his death in 1869.
Philip Maxwell, M. D.
He as a native of Guilford, Vt. and born in 1799. He was a student
of medicine in New York city, but took his medical degree in Vermont.
171
He was a man of varied attainments and unusually popular for he had
hardly settled in practice in Sacketts Harbor, N. Y., before. he became
a member of the State- Legislature. Following this he was next under
appointment as assistant surgeon in the United States army and as-
signed to duty at Fort Dearborn, 111., where he reported for duty as
surgeon of the garrison in 1833. Later he was promoted to the rank
of surgeon and in the division under command of Gen. Zachary Taylor
was in service with this division in the Florida war.
In 1844, having resigned his position in the army he returned again
to Chicago and engaged in the practice of medicine. Although actively
engaged in medical practice and as once a member of the New York
legislature, here we find him again a legislative member, this -time in
Illinois. While making a very creditable record in the State Assembly
he still maintained a close relation with his patients who welcomed his
return.
He was a man with over-flowing humor and though rollicking with
wit and mirth when not on duty, yet when he entered the sick room there
was none more gentle, tender and quiet than he. The coruscations
and sallies of wit and repartee which used to pass between him and Dr.
Egan as they used to meet at the billiard table in the old Tremont
House were long remembered by those who waited the coming of these
men. They were a royal pair and none were the worse for the amuse-
ment they there enjoyed from meeting them. Physically these men
were well mated. Dr. Maxwell stood six feet and two inches in
height and weighed 275 pounds and yet he was agile and seemed comely
in his proprotions, while Dr. Egan not as tall was quite his equal other-
wise.
Dr. Maxwell relinquished medical practice in Chicago in 1855 and
was one of the pioneers to settle upon the banks of beautiful Lake
Geneva in Wisconsin, now so noted, whither he retired and where he
died in 1859 at the age of sixty years. He is still remembered by those
who knew him as one of the most prominent pioneer physicians in the
northwest.
Daniel Brainard, M. D.
Dr. Brainard was born in Westernville, Oneida, Co., N. Y., May
15, 18 1 2, having received a thorough preliminary education, he studied
medicine with Dr. Pope, a prominent surgeon in Rome, N. Y., and
graduated at Jefferson College, Philadelphia^ in 1834. After practic-
ing for a year in Whitesboro in his native county, he came to Chicago
in September, 1835.
By reason of some critical operation, successfully performed, after
two years of limited practice he achieved special notoriety and soon be-
came the leading surgeon of the northwest.
In 1839 he visited Paris, France, in the furtherance of his studies,
having in mind the organization of a medical college in Chicago which
was accomplished in December, 1843, and named in honor of the cele-
brated Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia. His skill as a bold and successful
operator assured for him rapid promotion and at the end of his life he
held the first position as a surgeon in all the northwestern states. In
172
1852 he visited Europe for the second time and was elected an honor-
ary member of the Surgical Society of Paris. Returning to his chosen
field he gave his untiring energy to the practice of his profession and
to the development of Rush Medical College and with results so mani-
fest as to more than fulfill his most sanguine expectations.
In the meantime in connection with his vast amount of professional
labor he devoted much time to experimental research and original ob-'
servation. During the years of 1849 to 1854 inclusive he conducted a
series of experiments by injecting iodine and iodide of potash into
serous sacks in ascites, hydrocephalus, spinabifida and even edema
of the extremities. He also conducted a series of experiments for the
cure of ununited fractures by subcutaneous perforation of the fractured
end of the bones, and for a thesis upon this subject presented at the
meeting of the American Medical Association in St. Louis in 1852 he
received the prize which was awarded that year.
In 1861 at the outbreak of the civil war he was appointed a member
of the State Examining Board for the examination of candidates for
appointment as surgeons and assistant surgeons to the numerous regi-
ments of Illinois volunteers.
"Physically" says a writer in the "Biography of American physicians
and surgeons," "he was tall and well proportioned, dignified in manner,
bearing on reserve. As a public speaker he was clear, forcible, always
commanding attention, whether, in public or in the lecture room." He
maintained the controlling influence as president of Rush Medical Col-
lege and as professor of surgeory until his sudden death which occurred
at the early age of 54 years. He died of cholera in Chicago during a
period when it prevailed so severely as an epidemic in 1866. At the
time of his death he was engaged on an extended surgical work which
has not been completed, but those who have listened to his clinical lec-
tures and have witnessed his skill as an operator will long remember
him as one of the most eminent of American surgeons.
Levi D. Boone, M. D.
Dr. Boone was born near Lexington, Kentucky, December 18, 1808,
and died in Chicago in 1882. He was a distant relative of Daniel
Boone. He was a medical graduate of Transylvania University in
1829 at the age of 21 years.
He commenced the practice of medicine at Edwardsville, Illinois,
and located later at Hillsboro in the same state. During the Black Hawk
war in 1832 he served as captain of a cavalry company. Following this
interruption he settled in Chicago in 1836. He served as city physician
from 1849 to 1851, and during that period when the cholera epidemic
was so severe he rendered most valuable service to the public.
He served for three terms as alderman and in 1855 was elected
mayor of the city.
During his administration an ordinance was passed raising the
liquor license from $300 to $500 per annum. Several persons were
arrested and an efifort on the part of their friends to liberate them by
force a conflict occurred between the rioters and the civil authorities,
U5
but the firmness and promptness of the mayor sustained by a sufficient
poHce force, the "beer rebelhon," as it was termed, was promptly and
permanently controlled. After his term of office expired Dr. Boone
again resumed medical practice and was esteemed as one of our most
prominent physicians. During the time that the confederate prisoners
were in confinement at Camp Douglas he served as one of the attend-
ing physicians.
He was one of the founders of the Chicago University and one of
the strong pillars of the Baptist church.
He was married in his early professional life, his wife being the
daughter of Judge Smith of the Illinois Supreme Court. Eleven
children were born to them, of whom six survived their parents.
Calvin Truesdale, M. D.
Dr. Calvin Truesdale, who for half a century was a prominent prac-
titioner of medicine in Rock Island, died on Sunday morning, June
9, 1895, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Gaskell, of heart
trouble, after a long and heroic struggle of over five months. His
last illness dated from the 4th of February and at that time he had
barely recovered from a previous severe attack which had caused his
family and friends much anxiety. He went with Mrs. Truesdale
then to Minneapolis in order to obtain the rest which he found impossi-
ble at home on account of the professional demands upon him, and was
never able to return alive. The attack to which he succumbed was a very
severe one and from the first there was little or no hope of his recovery.
Indeed the first dispatches received indicated that death might be antici-
pated within twenty-four hours, but the doctor was a man of remarkable
vitality and lingered, slowly losing strength from February to June.
Shortly aftr Dr. Truesdale's arrival in Minneapolis he began ta
complain of pains in the region of the heart and although he was a
man of remarkable energy and determination, he was compelled to
take to his bed. Everything that kind and attentive relatives and
friends and medical skill could do was done for the sick physician, but
all to no avail. His condition grew worse almost constantly from the
time he was compelled to take his bed.
Dr. Truesdale was born in Austintown, Trumble county, Ohio, Oct.
2, 1822, and was consequently in his 73rd year. His parents died when
he was a mere boy and he was reared and educated by his uncle. Dr.
Joseph Truesdale, of Poland, Ohio. He was a member of the first
class and attended the first course of lectures delivered at the Cleve-
land Medical College and graduated from that school. He received
the Adundem degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1882 from the Western
Reserve University, at Cleveland, Ohio. For sometime after gradu-
ating he practiced medicine at Mahoningtown, Lawrence county, Pa.,
afterwards at Poland, Ohio.
He located at Rock Island in September. 1854, since which time his
life and labors are well known to the citizens of Rock Island as in
the entire surrounding country. He was a physician of fine culture,
kind hearted and faithful in 'his discharge of duties. _ He was a
thorough surgeon, as his many varied difficult operations and re-
174
coveries bear him testimony. He was a member of the Iowa and
Illinois Central District Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical
Society, the American Medical Association and of the staff of St. An-
thony's hospital. He had been in the active practice of his profession
more than fifty years.
Dr. Truesdale was married on the first of June, 185 1, shortly after
returning from California (he was an "Argonaut of 1849) to Miss
Charlotte M. Haynes, a native of Vernon, Ohio, who was born in
1826. Four children blessed their union, William H. Truesdale, gen-
" eral manager of the Rock Island road ; Mrs. Mary S. Gaskell, of
Minneapolis ; Charles C. Truesdale, of Rock Island, and Harry C.
Truesdale.
As a citizen none better ever blessed a community. He took a great
and commendable interest in public affairs and was a most valuable
member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1870, which
gave us our present organic law. He served the city of Rock Island
two terms as mayor, being elected in i860 and again in 1866 and in
1872 accepted the liberal Republican nomination for Congress. He
also served as postmaster at Rock Island, having been appointed by
President Lincoln. On account of personal friendship President
Lincoln also offered Dr. Truesdale another position of importance,
which was declined. During Dr. Truesdale's 42 years' practice of
medicine and surgery — particularly surgery — in Rock Island, he was
so unselfish, so untiring in his desire to alleviate suffering and assist
the poor that his death was widely motfrned.
Ephraim Ingals, M. D.
The Ingals family was planted in America by Edmund Ingals, who
came from England with Governor Endicott's colony, landing at Salem
in September, 1628. Edmund Ingals was the first settler of Lynn,
Massachusetts. From him all of the name of Ingalls or Ingals on this
side of the Atlantic have descended. Of this number Ephraim Ingals
was born in Abington, Connecticut, May 26, 1823, the youngest of
nine children. His father and mother both dying before he was
eight years old, the family became scattered. In 1837 young Ephraim
came to an older brother in what is now Lee count), Illinois, where
he worked three years on a farm. He attended school in Princeton,
Mt. Morris and Jacksonville, Illinois. He attended lectures in Rush
Medical College during the sessions of 1845-46 and 18467-47, gradu-
ating in February of the last year. After practicing medicine ten
years in Lee Center, Illinois, he removed to Chicago, where he soon
acquired a good reputation as a general practitioner, and came to be
regarded as a business man of much more than ordinary capacity. He
was associated for a time in the conduct of the Northwestern Medical
and Surgical Journal with Prof. Daniel Brainard, and later with Prof.
DeLaskie Miller. He was ever a close friend of Dr. Brainard and was
appointed by him as the executor of his estate. In 1859 he was elected
professor of materia medica and therapeutics in Rush Medical College,
to succeed Dr. John H. Rauch, who had resigned. He accepted the
175
position and entered upon the discharge of its duties with the same
industry and fideHty that had characterized him in all. other relations
of life. He was not a brilliant lecturer, but a superior teacher whose
instruction was characterized by clearness of expression and sound
practical application, and he added much strength to the faculty. He
continued to discharge the duties of his professorship for eleven years,
during much of which time he was also treasurer of the college and
an active worker in the construction of a new building. During all of
these years he missed only one lecture, and that was at the time of
Dr. Brainard's death. In 1871 he resigned the chair of materia medica
and therapeutics in the college and was elected emeritus professor.
Soon after his resignation the Chicago fire swept away the improve-
ments on the greater part of his real estate and it required the labor
of years to repair his losses. Through it all, however, he retained
his original interest in the welfare of the medical profession and of
Rush Medical College as his alma mater, for he had no sooner re-
covered from the eflfects of the great fire, and secured for himself a
fair income, than he began to devise ways and means for advancing
the interests of both. His first suggestion was for the securing of a
lot and suitable buildings for a permanent medical library for the
benefit of the profession at large. Finding himself forestall-
ed in this by the offer of the trustees of the Newberry Library
to provide a permanent medical library department in that institution,
he cordially gave his personal influence in that direction, and turned
his attention more actively to the work of elevating the standard of
medical education. He was a strong advocate of a higher require-
ment of general education for students before commencing the study
of medicine, and for an increased term of graded medical college in-
struction before graduation. He did not limit his influence in this
direction solely to the advancement of Rush Medical College, but
gave substantial encouragement to the medical department of the
Nbrthwestern University by a donation of $10,000 toward the erec-
tion of the present excellent laboratory building of that institution.
He was greatly interested in having Rush Medical College become the
medical department of the University of Chicago, and gave $25,000 to
the college at the time it became affiliated with that institution, with the
foresight to see that this step would be a great factor in the advance-
ment of medical education throughout the country.
Of him Dr. Nicholas Senn has written : "Dr. Ephraim Ingals was
the type of a family physician. He was a leader in his profession,
loved bv his students and universally respected by his colleagues. Al-
though not an author, he added to the advancement of medicine by his
teachings and practice."
In 185 1 Dr. Ingals was married to Melissa R. Church, daughter of
Thomas and Rachel Church of Chicago. Dr. Ingals gave up all prac-
tice in 1893, but retained his interest in medical affairs untd the close
of life. He died of senile heart and angina pectoris, December 18,
1900, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His wife died Nov. 20th,
1888. Four daughters survived him, Mary E. Ingals, Mrs. E.
Dletcher Ingals, Mrs. Homer M. Thomas and Elizabeth T. Ingals.
176
Henry Stirling Hurd, M. D.
Henry Stirling Hurd, M. D., late of Galesburg, Illinois, was born in
Roxbury, Connecticut, November 27, 181 5, of English ancestry. He
received his preliminary education in Connecticut, but when a young
man his father's family removed to western New York, and he then
took up the study of medicine, graduating from the Geneva Medical
College. He was one of three brothers to study medicine, and among
his family connections there were many who were or had been, mem-
bers of that profession. After graduation he emigrated to Michigan,
and in 1847 entered upon practice in Union City, Michigan, but later
attracted by the brighter prospects of Illinois, removed to Galesburg in
1854. In those days the railroad had been completed only a portion
of the way from Chicago, and the remainder of the journey had to be
made by wagon ; the fame of Knox College, and the little community
which had founded it, was then, however, attracting much attention,
not only because of the richness of the country, but because of the
educational facilities which the college and academy offered. He soon
became one of the leading practitioners and foremost citizens of Knox
county, and practiced his profession there for nearly forty-five years.
He was prominent in his profession and interested in all that per-
tained to its welfare. He also was warmly interested in the affairs
of Knox College. In the business and commercial prosperity of Gales-
burg, he took a prominent part, and was director of one of the banks
for a great many years. He was also for many years one of the
trustees of the First Congregational church, and in public affairs was
alwavs on the side of good citizenship. In private life he was beloved
bv ail for his kindness, uprightness, integrity, and clear-headed saga-
citv. He married in 1848, Eleanor Hammond Hurd, the widow of his
oldest brother, and was a loving husband and devoted father to three
children of the former union, and to two of his own sons. Of the two
families but two sons survive — Dr. Henry M. Hurd, now superin-
tendent of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md., and Dr.
Arthur W. Hurd, superintendent of the Buffalo State Hospital. Buf-
falo, N. Y. Dr. Hurd retired froTn active practice a few years before
his death, although he still occasionally answered calls of his old
patients when eighty years of age. He died August nth, 1000, in
Baltimore. ]\Td., in his 85th year, and was buried in Galesburg, 111.
William Bradsh.vw Egan, M. D.
Dr. Egan was a native of Ireland, born Sept. 28, 1808. He com-
menced his medical studies at the early 'age of fifteen, first at Lan-
chestershire, England, and graduated at the medical school in Dublin.
He soon after migrated to America, and became a school teacher in
Quebec, then in Montreal, later in New York city, and finally in the
University of Mrginia. Continuing his medical studies he was licensed
to practice medicine by the New Jersey State Medical Society. He
first settled in Newark, in that state in 1830. In 1832 he was married
to Miss Emiline Mabbatt and in 1833 he and his wife came to reside
177
in Chicago, which was their home during Hfe. His native talent and
his unusual culture were soon appreciated by the early citizens and
only a year after his arrival he was appointed to represent the south
division of the city as a member of the Health Committee, and at
once became one of the most prominent among the early settlers. He
entered actively upon the work of developing the then young but as-
piring village. He was especially effective as a platform speaker, and
as a presiding officer in public assemblies his equal was rarely found.
His ambition for the welfare of the city and for the State led him grad-
ually to withdraw from medical practice to the handling of real estate
in which sphere he became a bold and successful operator. At the
celebrated meeting inaugurating the construction of the Illinois and
Michigan canal, by common consent, Dr. Egan was selected to pro-
nounce the public oration which was a masterly success.
He was elected City Recorder of Chicago in 1844, ^^^ in 1853-4 was
elected a member of the Illinois State Legislature where he rendered
conspicuous service both for the city and the State. In the organization
of the Republican party he bore a conspicuous part and was often se-
lected as a presiding officer in the mass conventions which were char-
acteristic of that period. He lived universally respected in his lovely
residence in the west division of the city, where he died in Oct. i860,
at the age of 52 years, surrounded by his loving family.
Lucius Clark, M. D.
Dr. Lucius Clark was born at Amherst, Mass., June 10, 1813, and
died in Rockford, 111., in Nov. 1878. He was the third in the family
of six sons, four of whom became physicians. He came to Rockford
in 1845, ^n<^ unlike many who came to the west continued to live and
work where he first planted himself. This constancy and adhesion to
his place and profession for thirty years amidst surrounding changes
was a marked characteristic of the man and one great reason of his
success. He was a diligent student of medicine, abreast of the times
in current medical literature and conversant with the best writing of
the best medical writers. He brought to the practice of his profession
a devotion entirely unselfish, skillful in diagnosis and remarkably suc-
cessful in medical practice. The religious character of Dr. Clark was
in harmony with his natural disposition and character. He showed
his faith by his work and a sweet and gentle savor of his life by deeds
rather than by words.
He was a trustee of the Rockford Female Seminary now Rockford
College, from its beginning, and a firm friend of all the higher interests
and institutions of the city. The professional services he rendered to
the poor were as assiduous and faithful as for those most remunerative.
He will always be remembered in Rockford as the beloved physician.
Dr. Clark left two sons, both of whom are physicians of more than
ordinary ability, Dexter Selwyn, born in Chili, Monroe Co., N. Y.,
Jan. 10, 1839, and died Feb. 12, 1898; Lucius Armour, a second son,
born in Rockford, 1849, and died in 1900. Dr. D. Selwyn Clark after
—12 H S
178
completing his college course entered Columbia University, but left at
the opening of the war as assistant surgeon of the 25th Illinois volun-
teers. He was afterwards made surgeon of the same regiment, was
captured at Chickamauga and sent to Libby prison. Returning to his
home he rested from his labor until stricken with disease and died
honored and beloved by the entire community in which he had lived
and labored.
James V. Z. Blaney^ M. D.
Dr. Blaney was a native of New Castle, Del., born May i, 1820 and
died in Chicago Dec. 11, 1874. He graduated at Princeton College,
New Jersey, when only 18 years of age, and when he was 21 years
old he graduated at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia,
and was for a time the assistant in the laboratory of Prof.
Henry. In looking for a professional field he spent the winter of
1842-3 in St. Louis, Mo., and did service in the Jefferson Barracks.
He came to Chicago in 1843 ^^^ was appointed professor of chem-
istry and materia medica in Rush Medical College, which was then
being organized, and soon became one of the most popular lecturers in
the faculty, and such were his professional attainments and rare social
qualities that he probably enjoyed the most lucrative practice of any
physician in the city. He edited the first medical journal published in
what was then known as the northwest, under the name of The Illinois
and Indiana Medical Journal. He was one of the founders of the
Chicago Medical Society. In 1850 he, in company with Dr. Wm. B.
Herrick, attended the medical convention at Springfield, which re-
sulted in the organization of the Illinois State Medical Society, of
which in 1870 he was elected president.
1 861 he entered the medical department of the volunteer army
and served throughout the civil war. During this period, for two years,
he was medical director and instructor at Fort Monroe. In 1864 he
was appointed medical purveyor and stationed in Chicago. In this
capacity his disbursements were over $600,000. He received em-
phatic approval when his accounts were audited and he retired from
the army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After his retirement
from the army he again resumed his position in Rush Medical College.
During his public service his health had been to such a degree impaired
that he was compelled to resign his position, and he died in Chicago in
1874, at the early age of 56 years.
Francis B. Haller, M. D.
Dr. Francis B. Haller was born Oct. 13, 1826, in Lewistown, Mif-
flin Co., Pa. His parents, Samuel and Mary Haller were both natives
of the same state. When he was about ten years of age his parents
removed to Montgomery Co., 111., and there he received his prepara-
tory and academic training at the Hillsboro Academy, afterwards at
Lewistown Academy, Pa. He was of a studious nature, though of an
active and nervous temperament and possessed a mind sufficiently well
179
balanced to prevent his running into excesses of any kind, that is
not improving his mind at the expense of his physical well being, or vici
versa.
It was his father's wish that he should study medicine and in def-
erence to that wish he did so. The selection of this profession reflects
great credit upon the judgment of the elder Haller and also upon his
thorough knowledge of his son's capability. It is creditable to Dr.
Haller, knowing the field in which his life work was to be per-
formed, that he assiduously devoted himself not only to the mere ac-
quiring of a thorough knowledge of that science, which with the ex-
ception of Theology is the noblest that engages the attention of man,
but he made it of practical utility. He studied one year with Dr. A.
S. Haskell, then of Hillsboro, and subsequently of Alton, one of the
most successful practitioners of western Illinois and a thoroughly
refined and cultivated gentleman. He afterwards attended lectures at
Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1848-49 and 1849-50 under the in-
struction of Prof. Wm. B. Herrick. The following winter of 1850-51
he attended lectures at Missouri University medical department, where
he graduated in March, 185 1. He immediately began the practice of
his profession in Vandalia, where he continued to reside to the day of
his death.
Dr. Haller married on May 22, 1856, Lucinda R., daughter of Martin
F. and Mary A. Higgins. The family of Dr. Haller consisted of three
daughters, Mary, Maud and Minnie, the latter died in infancy. The
other two and his wife survive him. In the winter of 1864-65 Dr.
Haller accompanied by his family paid a visit to Philadelphia where he
availed himself of the opportunity and took a full course of study in
Jefferson Medical College, graduating from that institution in the
spring of 1865. He was a member of the County, District and State
Medical Societies, and in 1866 was president of the latter; he was also
a member of the American Medical Association. In religious faith
Dr. Haller was a Methodist of which denomination he was considered
a consistent and active member. In politics he was originally a Whig
but immediately upon the organization of the Republican party he
transferred his allegiance to it and was ever after an ardent supporter
of its policy. He was at various times medical examiner and pension
surgeon of the State and United States and held many positions of
honor and trust, discharging every duty with fidelity.
Dr. Haller was very active, energetic and untiring in his profession,
to which he was most devoted. He was an enthusiastic member of the
Masonic Fraternity and for many years in succession "Master" of his
own Masonic lodge. He was also for several years a member of the
State Board of Charities.
Dr. Francis Bowd Haller was stricken with paralysis on Aug. 30,
1895, and died on the 14th day of September following, at his home in
Vandalia, 111., aged 69 years.
i8o
Edgar Pumphrey Cook, M. D.
Edgar Pumphrey Cook, eldest son of Dr. Wm. J. Cook and Drusula
Pumphrey Cook, was born in Wellsburg, W. Va., May 2, 1823, and
died in Mendota, 111., Oct. 31, 1902.
In 1836 his parents removed to Ohio, residing in Middletown,
Guernsey Co., for a time, then in Freeport, Jefferson Co. and finally in
East Springfield, Jefferson Co. His mother who herself was a daugh-
ter of a slave holder in old Virginia, early acquired an abhorrence of
slavery and that the family removed to Ohio, was largely due to her
desire that her children should grow to manhood in a free state.
His father was a graduate in medicine of the University of Mary-
land, in the class of 1826, and his earliest associations were with the
profession which he afterwards chose for his life work. His early
education was obtained in the common schools of Ohio supplemented
by two years attendance at Jefferson Academy, located at Jefferson,
O. At the age of eighteen he entered the Cleveland Medical College,
now the Medical Department of the Western Reserve University. In
the interval between the annual courses of lectures he taught school.
He graduated as doctor of medicine in the spring of 1854, being the
youngest member of his class and himself a few weeks under twenty-
one years of age. As a medical student he became convinced that the
existing course of study was too short by at least two years to prop-
erly equip one for the practice of medicine, and as early as 1854 he
placed five years as the proper minimum of time. He always stood
for the best possible education of the man or woman who choose
medicine as a vocation.
In December, 1855, he settled in Mendota, 111., and began the prac-
tice of medicine in the place which was to be the scene of his life
work.
On Nov. II, 1856, he was united in marriage with Catharine Mor-
rison, of East Springfield, O. There were born to them eleven children,
Virginia, Charles, E., James, John George Albert, William Frederick,
Edgar P., Wells Morrison, Catherine and two sons who died in in-
fancy. His wife, Catherine, died in 1902, preceding him in death four
months.
During the civil war he responded to the call of Governor Yates, took
the examination at Springfield and was appointed as a surgeon in the
State of Illinois. After the battle of Shiloh he was ordered to the field
near Corinth, Miss., and was in charge of a regiment of Illinois vol-
unteers.
From the first of his medical career. Dr. Cook identified himself
with the general interests of his profession. He early joined the Illinois
State Medical Society and was always active in its affairs. In 1879
he was elected its president. At the time of his death he was chairman
of the judical committee of the State Society. He was one of the
early presidents of the La Salle County Medical Society, twice presi-
dent of the North Central Illinois Medical Association and a member
of the American Medical Association, Association of Railway Sur-
geons, the American Public Health Association and other medical soci-
eties. He was an honorary member of the Physicians' Club of Chi-
DR. JOSEPH WARREN FREER.
i8i
cago, a delegate to the Ninth International Medical convention in
Washington in 1877, and in 1890 to the Tenth International
Medical convention in Berlin, Germany. He was an enthusiast in his
profession to the day of his death and was constant in his endeavor
to keep abreast with the advances in medical science. His attention
was particularly attracted to the surgical aspect of medical practice.
He was for many years the local surgeon of the Illinois Central &
Burlington Railroads. His acquaintance in his profession was unus-
ually wide and he took great delight in the profession of the friendships
he had made in his nearly half century of active medical practice. As
a citizen of Mendota he was ever active in whatever concerned its
best interest, in matters pertaining to education and sanitary condi-
tion he was especially interested.
For many years he served as member of the city council and to his
effort is largely due the adoption and construction of the present
sewerage system of Mendota. He was a school trustee at th'e time of
his death, and for several years he had been a director and vice-presi-
dent of the Mendota National Bank.
He was a member of the Mendota lodge of A. F, & A, Masons of
the Mendota chapters and of Bethany Commandery of the Knights
Templars.
Dr. Cook joined the Methodist Episcopal church in early life and
was one of the original trustees of the Mendota church, a position
which he continued to hold without intermission until the day of his
death. In March, 1900, while returning at night from a consultation
visit in a neighboring town, Dr. Cook was stricken on the train with
an attack of angina pectoris. He was forced to abandon at once the
active duties of his profession. His health gradually improved and
although he was never again able to resume his work as a physician,
the last two years of his life were devoted to many interests less
arduous in their demands, but equally important in his view. His
death was due to a sudden attack of angina pectoris and although not
entirely unexpected by those familiar with his condition, it came as a
severe shock to the community and all who knew him.
Dr. Joseph Warren Freer.
Joseph Warren Freer, M. D., president and professor of physiology
and microscopic anatomy in Rush Medical College, was born at Fort
Ann, Washington county, N. Y., on the loth day of July, 1816.
His father, Elias Freer, was of French Huguenot and Holland
descent, the ancestry being among the early Dutch settlers on the
Hudson. His mother was of the Paine family— early settlers of New
England. His educational advantages were those of the common
school, until fifteen years of age, after which he attended for two
years what was termed a high school. At eighteen he entered the
office of Dr. Lemuel C. Paine, then of Clyde, N. Y., as a pupil of
medicine.
In his nineteenth year, June 14, 1836, he came to Chicago and in-
vested in a "mud claim" on the Calumet river, about four miles from
l82
any neighbors, except Pottawatomie Indians. He remained there
about two months, and, in the meantime, nearly died of filth, bad food,
and ultimate sickness. In the fall of the same year, his parents having
immigrated west, he concluded to follow their fortunes. They settled
on "claim land," at a place called Forked Creek, near Wilmington,
111. There he remained until July 4, 1846. During this time he
formed several valuable acquaintances, particularly Hon. Richard L.
Wilson, formerly editor of the Chicago Evening Journal, and Dr.
Hiram Todd, to the latter of whom he was ever grateful for valuable
advice, and the use of his excellent literary and scientific library. In
later years he often spoke of Dr. Todd in affectionate terms, character-
izing him as "a gentleman of the old school, of liberal education and
culture."
Aside from incidental advantages of this sort, he had little oppor-
tunity to educate himself, for with the earlier settlers the material
man demanded more than the moral or mental. Nevertheless, he did
burn some midnight oil over a little Dublin Dissector, an ancient work
on chemistry, and sundry literary works, borrowed from his cherished
friend, Dr. Todd. While sojourning in this region, he opened, and
brought under cultivation, three farms, on one of which he made his
home after his first marriage.
In March, 1844, he married Emeline, daughter of Phineas Holden,
Esq., of Hickory Creek, Will county. One child, Henry C, was the
fruit of this union. He is now living, and won honor as a soldier in
the late war. Mrs. Freer died in the autumn of 1845 — a little less than
two years from their marriage.
This bereavement changed the whole course of his subsequent life.
It happened that he was dissatisfied with the medical treatment of
her last sickness, and expressed a determination to know whether
there was any truth in, and reliance to be placed upon, medicine. In
furtherance of this purpose, mounting a load of wheat, that he might
not lose any time, he drove to the then village of Chicago, to solicit
Prof. Daniel Brainard to receive him into his office.
Dr. Brainard gave him a hearty welcome, and he continued with
him as a student until his graduation at Rush Medical College at the
close of the session, 1848-9.
As sagacious an observer as Dr. Brainard could not, and did not,
fail to mark in this new student an ability and determination, com-
bined with a zeal and untiring industry, which were sure to result
most honorably. From first to last he was invited to assist in all of
Prof. Brainard's important operations, and during the last years of
his pupilage was frequently sent by Dr. Brainard to perform such as he
himself could not attend. The warm friendship and confidence thus
commenced, ceased only with the life of that great surgeon and
teacher.
The last winter of his pupilage. Dr. Freer was appointed acting
demonstrator of anatomy by Prof. Wm. B. Herrick, then professor
of that department. After graduation he contracted a co-partnership
with Dr. John A. Kennicott, of Wheeling, Cook county.
i83
In June, 1849, he married Miss Catherine Gatter, of Wurtemberg,
Germany. A daughter and three sons were the fruit of this marriage,
all of whom are now living.
In the spring of 1850 he received by cone ours the regular appoint-
ment of demonstrator of anatomy in Rush Medical College, a high
honor, as the place was very ably contested for.
In the summer of 1855, he was appointed professor of descriptive
anatomy.
Whilst Prof. Brainard occupied the position of surgeon of the U.
S. marine hospital, Prof. Freer was his constant and invaluable
deputy.
On the reorganization of Rush Medical College in 1859, Prof.
Greer was transferred to the chair of physiology and microscopic
anatomy, a position he occupied up to the time of his decease.
Prof. Blaney retiring from the college in 1872, Prof. Freer was
elected to the presidency.
Aside from his connection with the college, he has filled many im-
portant positions. He was formerly, for several years, one of the
medical staff of Mercy Hospital, and since the reopening of Cook
county hospital, soon after the close of the war, was appointed one
of the medical board, which position was only vacated by his death.
He was also consulting surgeon of St. Joseph's Hospital, of the
Hospital for Women of the State of Illinois, and many other public
charities.
Prof. Freer was appointed brigade surgeon very soon after the
breaking out of the war, but after having served some three or four
months, was obliged to resign in consequence of ill health.
In 1864, he was appointed U. S. enrolling surgeon for the Chicago
district.
1867, Prof. Freer sent his family to Europe, following them a few
months after. They remained until 1871, and he. returning each year
to give his course of lectures in the college, spent the remaining months
in Europe. He attended the Medical Congress in Paris during the
exposition of 1867, and afterwards spent a considerable period in
visiting their hospitals and medical schools.
So also he visited the most celebrated schools of England, Scotland
and Ireland in 1868, and he had reason to be pleased at the considera-
tion and courtesy extended to him by many of their most eminent pro-
fessional men.
In 1870 he spent four months in Vienna, familiarizing himself with
its great hospitals. He returned home in September, bringing his
family with him.
On his several visits to Europe he had secured many articles of rare
scientific and professional interest. These and other souvenirs, and
the tenement buildings which had afforded him means to indulge his
tastes for study and travel ; these he had earned by industry and econ-
omy, and he had looked forward to them as a means of affording ease
and comfort in his declining years all were in that terrible night of
October, a few short weeks only after his return, swept awav in the
general conflagration — himself and family barely escaping with their
lives.
i84
Younger men than Dr. Freer might have given up in despair, but
he, in nowise disheartened, returned with energy to his practice, to
the college and the hospitals.
Although circumstances conspired to place Dr. Freer as a teacher
in the elementary department of physiology, he was distinguished,
not only popularly but professionally, both as a physician and surgeon.
The first eight or ten years of his professional life his practice was
devoted largely to surgery. He performed nearly all the operations of
note from that of cataract by extraction to excision of knee joint and
elbow joint with entire ulna and head of radius, before Carnochan's
case.
Perhaps he did not originate much in surgery, but he suggested
and practiced several things of value. He is entitled to priority in
suggestion of the use of collodion in erysipelas, burns, etc. So, also,
the first publication of the use of adhesive plaster in fractures of the
clavicle is due to him.
However, it may be claimed for him that he was decidedly original
in his application of the general principles of both branches of the
profession. He always seemed to feel degraded when either operating
or prescribing merely by rule.
From the time of his entrance upon the profession, to use his own
language, he "worshipped nature as fervently as ever the Incas did
the sun, and for this reason was never guilty of knowingly putting
brakes on her wheels."
The highest eulogium that can be pronounced upon him is fur-
nished by the record of his life. That shows that whatever he undertook
to do, he sought to do in the best possible way. There was not a
scintilla of sham or pretence in his nature, and he was a vigorous
hater of both. What he could not tolerate in himself, that he could
not overlook in others. Hence he was little loved by "irregulars,"
either outside or inside of the scientific pale, and was very frequently
a target for their attacks. Commencing medical study when his life
was a little more than half gone past, he commanded all his faculties
by an indomitable will, to their uttermost of service. He was never
idle, and in the height of active practice was never heard to say he
had no time to read and investigate.
Late in life he added largely to his juvenile knowledge of the French
language, and became proficient in German.
What he knew, he knew thoroughly. His exact anatomical knowl-
edge made his a safe operator, whilst his sound judgment made him
a successful physician.
No "authority" but nature would content him. A zealous student
in this department, he did not shrink from the conclusions to which
physiological research led. His practice as a physician was thoroughly
pervaded with it. Coming somewhat slowly to a diagnosis, and per-
haps more slowly still to the therapeutics, every one who has met him
in the clinics or in consultation will remember with highest respect
the solidity of the reasons he was able and willing to give for the
opinion and the action. As a medical teacher, the same qualities of
mind were manifest. Not fluent of speech, yet his language was
always accurate and well chosen. Not devoid of a certain dry
i85
humor, he rarely indulged, while lecturing, in anything beyond a
clear and correct statement of matters of fact. New students, and
superficial older ones, did not fully recognize his worth, but those
more advanced, and who came to college solely to acquire knowledge,
yielded him close attention, and learned to honor and venerate him as
one who was master of the subject, was anxious to impart real in-
struction, and, speaking, spoke as one having authority.
As an experimenter. Prof. Freer was eminently "at home." He
was remarkably successful. Here his knowledge of both human and
comparative anatomy shone forth. The diversities of organization
which too many vivisectors greatly disregard always received due
consideration, and, as usual with him, he came to no generalizations
with undue haste. His untimely demise has prevented publication
to the world of many discoveries of great value, that now are only
to be gathered up from the notebooks and memories of his pupils and
intimates.
As a citizen he was patriotic and public spirited. His private life
was ever stainless, and in all his relations, whether with individuals
or the public, he was irreproachable. By his colleagues in the faculty,
and by his friends he was earnestly beloved, and he reciprocated
their attachment with all the warmth of his kindly heart.
Dr. Freer died on the 12th of April, 1877, after an illness of two
months.
William Heath Byford, A. M., M. D.
William Heath Byford was born March 20, 1817, in the village of
Eaton, Ohio, and was the son of Henry T. and Hannah Byford. The
family is of English extraction and has been traced back to Suffolk.
His father, a mechanic of limited means, to better his condition re-
moved to the falls of the Ohio river, now New Albany, from whence in
182 1 he changed his residence to Hindostan, Martin county, Indiana.
Here his father died suddenly, leaving a widow and three children.
William the eldest, in his ninth year was compelled to give up his
studies, which he had pursued with signal success for three or four
years in the neighboring country school, in order to help his mother
in the support of the family. For the next four years he worked at
whatever he could find to do. At the end of that time his mother
moved to Crawford county, Illinois, and joined her father. After
working for two years on his grandfather's farm, the condition of the
family being somewhat improved; it was decided that the boy's wish
to learn a trade should be gratified. Accordingly he set out on foot
for the village of Palestine, several miles distant, and on reaching it
presented himself at all of the blacksmith shops in town. But the
blacksmiths declined to have anything to do with him, and he tried the
tailors. He had no particular fancy for this occupation, but he had
come to town to make all necessary arrangements for learning a trade,
and he was determined not to return home before the accomplishment
of that purpose. He finally persuaded a kind hearted Christian
gentleman by the name of* Davis to receive him, and was soon installed
i86
as an apprentice, and held the position for two years, when Mr. Davis
removed to Kentucky. During the ensuing four years he finished
learning his trade in the employ of a tailor at Vincennes, Indiana.
The boy was now twenty years old. While serving his apprenticeship
he devoted all his spare time to study, and day after day he had,
while working on a garment, concealed some old text book bought or
borrowed, which contributed to his stock of knowledge. In this way
he mastered the structure of his native tongue, acquired some knowl-
edge of the Latin, Greek and French languages, and studied with
especial care physiology, chemistry and natural history. About
eighteen months before the expiration of his term of apprenticeship
he determined to devote his life to the study of medicine, and sub-
sequently placed himself under the professional guidance of Dr.
Joseph Maddox, of Vincennes, Indiana. Soon after the expiration
of his term of apprenticeship he was examined according to a custom
then prevailing in Indiana, by three commissioners appointed for the
purpose, who certified that they were satisfied with his acquirements
and authorized him to engage in the practice of medicine. At once
he began the practice of his profession in Owensville, Gibson county,
Indiana, August 8, 1838. In 1840 he removed to Mount Vernon,
Indiana, where he associated himself with Dr. Hezekiah Holland,
whose daughter he afterwards married. He remained in Mount Ver-
non until 1850. During this period he attended lectures at the Ohio
Medical College in Cincinnati, and in 1845 he applied for and received
a regular graduation and an accredited diploma from the same in-
stitution.
In 1847 he performed two Csesarean sections and wrote an excellent
account of the operation. One of these cases survived the operation for
some days, but ultimately perished from peritonitis, presumably due
to an error in diet. "This was followed by contributions to the medical
journals which attracted the attention of the medical community, and
gave their author a respectable reputation for literary acquirements,
intellectual penetration, and scientific knowledge."
In October, 1850, he was elected to the chair of anatomy in Evans-
ville Medical College, Indiana, and two years later he was transferred
to the chair of theory and practice, which he held until the extinction
of the college in 1854. During his professorship in Evansville he was
one of the editors of a medical journal of merit. In may, 1857. he
was elected vice president of the American Medical Association, then
assembled at Nashville, Tenn., and in the following autumn he was
called to the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children
in the Rush Medical College at Chicago, vacated by Dr. John Evans,
the talented physician and United States Senator from Colorado. This
position he held for two years, when, together with several associates,
he aided in the organization of the Chicago Medical College. In this
institution he occupied the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women
and children until 1879, when he was again called to Rush Medical
College to fill the chair of gynecology, specially created for his occu-
pancy. In 1870, he became one of the founders of the Women's
Medical College of Chicago. He was mad& president of the faculty
x67
and also of the board of trustees, and both of these positions he held
up to the day of his death. He was prominently identified with the
organization of the American Gynecological Society, being elected one
of the first vice presidents, and president in 1881.
Dr. Byford was married October 3, 1840, to Mary Anne Holland,
daughter of Hezekiah Holland, by whom he had five children, Mrs.
W. W. Leonard, Mrs. D. J. Schuyler, Dr. WiUiam H. Byford, Jr.,
Dr. Henry T. Byford and Mrs. C. P. Van Schaack. Mrs. Byford
died in 1864. In 1873 he married Miss Lina W. Flersheim, of Buf-
falo, N. Y., who survives him. The only child of the second union died
at birth.
Dr. Byford won merited fame as a prolific writer and as an authority
in gynecology. Beginning with his paper on Csesarean section, pub-
lished in 1847, he has contributed much of permanent value to every
phase of the subject. In 1864 he pubHshed his first book, entitled
"Chronic Inflammation and Displacements of the Unimpregnated
Uterus," which is also the first medical work attributable to a Chicago
author; second edition, 1871. In 1866 appeared his "Practice of
Medicine and Surgery applied to the Diseases of Women," which
was extensively used as a text book, and which passed through its
fourth edition in 1888. "The Philosophy of Domestic Life" was pub-
lished in 1869, followed in 1872 by his text book on "Obstetrics,"
which passed through a second edition the following year. During a
term of years he was associated with Dr. N. S. Davis, Sr., in the
editorial management of the Chicago Medical Journal. Later he be-
came editor-in-chief of the Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner,
the successor of the two journals known as the Chicago Medical Jour-
nal and the Chicago Medical Examiner, and published under the aus-
pices of the Chicago Medical Press Association. There are many
measures in practice with which his name is intimately connected ; for
example, the use of ergot in fibroid tumors of the uterus ; drainage
per rectum of pelvic abscesses that have previously discharged into that
viscus; abdominal section for ruptured extra-uterine pregnancy; the
systematic use of the slippery elm tent.
As a teacher, in the lecture room, at the bedside, or in debate Dr.
Byford's utterances were always characterized by simplicity, clearness,
and pertinency. No wonder then, that his clinic was always over-
crowded with students and practitioners, and that his slightest word
invariably received a degree of attention all the more flattering because
involuntary.
But perhaps it was as a practitioner that he achieved the greatest
measure of success. Wisdom and enormous experience created his
vantage ground as a consultant. It will be remembered that for more
than twenty-five years he was a general practitioner before he devoted
himself exclusively to gynecology. Even then the circle of his specialty
included other organs than the womb. Like Trousseau he was very
exact in keeping his appointments. Throughout his career he was a
rigid adherent to the code of ethics because he believed its precepts
to be both reasonable and right.
i88
It has long been customary to regard compensation in money as
one criterion of success in the practice of medicine. Dr. Byford's
professional income during the last twenty years of his life varied from
$25,000 to $30,000 per annum, and he bequeathed to his family along
with the heritage of a spotless name, a handsome fortune, well invested.
He was not an extremist ; he rode no hobbies. None the less his life
had clearly defined and fondly cherished purposes. They were all
nobly sustained. One of these was the advocacy of the medical edu-
cation of women. In this cause he was the pioneer in the west. To it
he gave freely of his time, of his influence, and of his wealth. Another
was the establishment in Chicago of the Woman's Hospital. Today
this institution flourishes, a monument to his persistent effort. While
he lived one-third of its beds were free.
He loved young men. Counsel, encouragement, recommendation,
money, all were freely given, as if he were the debtor. Back of all
his skill of hand and wisdom of professional judgment there was a
wonderfully large and generous heart.
He died May 21, 1890, at the age of seventy-three years. For the
last three years he showed symptoms of heart disease, that culminated
in a fatal attack of angina pectoris.
He continued in active practice and in full possession of all his
faculties to the end. On the Saturday preceding his death he per-
formed abdominal section for the removal of the appendages on ac-
count of fibroid tumor of the uterus, and on Tuesday, the day of his
fatal illness, he attended to his usual professional duties. Among the
people of the city of Chicago, of the State of Illinois, and, indeed
of the whole northwest, the name of Byford was a houseohld word for
more than a quarter of a century. By the members of his profession
he was universally beloved for personal qualities as he was esteemed
for professional pre-eminence.
W. W. J.
[Taken from the transactions of the American Gynecological Association.]
Ralph N. Isham, M. D.
Ralph N. Isham was born in the town of Manheim, Herkimer
county. New York, March 16, 1831. After acquiring a good academic
education at the Herkimer Academy, at Little Falls, N. Y., he entered
upon the study of medicine and received the degree of M. D. from
the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New York city, in 1854.
He then served a full term as house physician and surgeon in Bellevue
hospital, at the completion of which he selected Chicago as his per-
manent field of practice, coming here in November, 1855.
In 1859 he joined with others in the organization of the medical
department of Lind University, later the Chicago Medical College, and
now known as the Northwestern University Medical School, and ac-
cepted the chair of surgical anatomy and operative surgery. In
the discharge of his duties he acquired a high reputation as a teacher
and as a successful surgical operator.
During the Civil War, 1861-1865, he served as a member of the
Sanitary Commission, and was one of its organizers. He twice went
i89
south with suppHes and doctors and was in the field at the battle of
Shiloh. During the war he had charge of the United States Marine
Hospital at Chicago, which then was a military hospital and he was in
close touch with the administration at Washington. He continued in
charge of the Marine Hospital for several years after the war. At
that time it was located near Rush street bridge.
At various times he has served as professor of surgery in the North-
western University, the duties of which he discharged with ability and
success for fifteen years, surgeon to the Jewish Hospital, afterwards
the Michael Reese Hospital, member of the board of trustees of the
North Star Dispensary, chief surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern
success for fifteen years, surgeon to the Jewish Hospital afterwards
to the Presbyterian Hospital, consulting surgeon to the Passavant Hos-
pital, delegate to the International Medical Congress in London in
1 88 1, surgeon of various regiments, etc., etc.
He was an extensive traveler, both in Europe, America and the
Orient. He was one of the original guarantors of the Chicago or-
chestra, also at one time a trustees of the Central church. He was a
member of various clubs, societies and organizations, and a member
of nearly all of the medical societies, being honorary member of the
New York Medical Society. He had degrees from the University of
the City of New York, and M. A, from the Northwestern University.
He married, in 1856, Katherine Snow, daughter of George W. Snow,
one of the early settlers of Chicago. He is survived by his wife and
four children, George S. Isham, Ralph Isham, Katherine (Mrs. A. L.
Farwell) and Harriet (Mrs. G. A. Carpenter).
Henry Wing, M. D.
Dr. Henry Wing was born April 6, 1832, at Troy, Missouri, and died
February 18, 1871, at Collinsville, Illinois. His parents went from
Woodstock, Vermont to Missouri. His father was prominent in
business and social circles and his mother was a woman of unusual
force of character, energy and intellectual equipment. Dr. Wing grew
up in the atmosphere which such parentage always provides and in-
spires, and was prepared for college in the schools of his native town.
He took the degree of A. B. at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois,
and later was given an A. M. by the same college. For a few years
a medical department was maintained at Illinois College and Dr. Wing
took his M. D. degree there, and later was director in the medical de-
partment. His intellect was keen, his temperament sanguine and
poetic and his interest in the current topics of the college discussions
always alert and accurate. During his residence at Jacksonville he took
a prominent and active part in the intellectual and social life of the
college and town and left an impression there which remained active
and bright during the lives of his associates of that time.
Among the professors and students of the college were Truman M.
Post, Thomas K. Beecher, Julian Sturtevant, Samuel Willard, H. W.
Jones, and Richard Yates, afterwards known as the "war governor"
all of whom were connected with the college during his residence at
Jacksonville.
1 90
Dr. Wing removed from Jacksonville to Collinsville, Illinois, and
married Miss M. C. Collins of that town in 1849. Five children,
William Hertzog, Elbert, Emily, Horace B. and Mary, were born of
this union, four of whom are living. Elbert held the chair of nervous
and mental diseases at the Chicago Medical College for several years,
and another the chair of physical diagnosis and clinical medicine in
the medical department of the University of Southern California and
is a prominent surgeon of Los Angeles.
Dr. Wing's first wife died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1864. Jn
1867 he married Mrs. Anna E. Gray. There were no children by
this second marriage.
Dr. Wing's professional life falls naturally into three periods. His
residence at Jacksonville, Collinsville and Chicago, Illinois. The
residence in Collinsville was in two periods, before and after a resi-
dence in Chicago. In Collinsville he was known as the best physician
in the town and surrounding towns of the country and had a wide
consultation practice. In the social, intellectual and some aspects of
the political life of the town, he early took and maintained throughout
his life a prominent part. He never sought political office but was
repeatedly elected a member of the school board of Collinsville and
was for years a member of the board of trustees of the Illinois Normal
School.
Dr. Wing's father was a slave holder in Missouri before the war.
Slaves were the only domestic servants to be had on any terms at
Troy, but neither father nor son believed slavery just, and during his
residence at Collinsville Dr. Henry Wing helped more than one run-
away slave to secure his freedom.
Governor Yates appointed Dr. Wing a member of the Board of
Medical Examiners of Illinois for the appointment of army surgeons
in 1861. During his service upon this board he formed a warm friend-
ship for Hosmer A. Johnson, Edmund Andrews, and John H. Hollister
and later removed his family to Chicago with Dr. Johnson and Dr.
Andrews.
Through these Chicago friends he became identified with the Medi-
cal department of Lind University and held a professorship there and
later in the Chicago Medical College. By reason of the illness of Mrs.
Wing the family returned to Collinsville in 1864, in October of which
year her illness terminated fatally. Dr. Wing did not again return to
Chicago, his health had never been robust and in the years from 1864
until his death in 1871 there was a gradual decline in vigor and
strength. In a vain endeavor to regain his health he spent one summer
in the Rocky Mountains serving as botanist in the exploring expedition
of Major J. W. Powell. That improved but did not restore his health,
and the remaining years of his life were those of that gallant uncom-
plaining struggle against an almost life-long lack of general vigor
rather than of any definite disease. .
Early in his college life Dr. Wing attacked the current theological
doctrine of the time, but never failed in loyalty to the ethical teachings
of Christ, and late in life united with the Presbyterian church at Col-
linsville. Throughout his professional life his standing was in every
way the best, his sympathies as broad as the race and his life blameless.
igi
As an evidence of the regard in which he was held by the community
in which he Hved, it may be of interest to state that during the funeral
services at the time of his burial all business houses in Collinsville were
closed, and the expression of sympathy and respect were profound
from all classes of people.
Samuel Craig Plummer, M. D.
Dr. Plummer came to Illinois in 1848 and located in Rock Island
where he maintained his residence until the day of his death. He was
born at Salem Crossroads, Westmoreland Co., Pa., on April 10, 182 1.
His parents were John Boyd Plummer and Elizabeth Craig Plummer,
and on his father's side he was descended from Francis Plummer, who
came from England in 1633, and settled in Newburyport, Mass.
He received his preliminary education in the common schools, in the
preparatory department of Western Reserve College, Ohio, and in the
Greenville Academy, Pa. He then read medicine with a preceptor for
three years after which he attended the first course of lectures given
in the Cleveland Medical College in 1842. Subsequent to this he prac-
ticed medicine in Ohio, and it was not until 1854, after completing a
second course of lectures, that he received the degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine from the Cleveland Medical College.
On October 17, 1844, at Burghill, Ohio, Dr. Plummer married Julia
Hayes, who died Oct. 6, 1872. Five children of the union reached the
adult life. Mrs. Emma P. Barrow, Clara E. Plummer, Mrs. Elizabeth
Loosley, Fred Hayes Plummer and Dr. Craig Plummer, Jr.
In 1850 he crossed the plains in a wagon and after spending a year
in California, returned by the way of the Isthmus of Panama.
On April 16, 1861, he enlisted in the army and served for three
years as surgeon of the Thirteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry with
the rank of major. At various times during his service he filled the posi-
tion of medical director of the army of the Eastern District of Arkan-
sas ; surgeon-in-chief of the First Division of the Fifteenth army corps
and medical director of the Fifteenth Army corps.
After his return from the war he devoted his life to general practice
in Rock Island. He showed a preference for surgery and this branch
of practice took up much of his attention. He was always active in
every movement for the betterment of the profession and was a faithful
attendent at the meetings of the local, state and national medical
societies. He was local surgeon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
R. R. from the time its rails reached Rock Island. When St. Anthony's
Hospital was organized he at once became an active member of the
stafif.
After the Cleveland Medical College from which he graduated be-
came the medical department of the Western Reserve University he
was granted the Adeundem degree by the latter institution. On June
9, 1874, Dr. Plummer married Mrs. Sarah More Dawson at New Wil-
mington, Pa., who survived him.
In religion he was a Presbyterian, in politics a Republican. He was
a Royal Arch Mason, but after the war his greatest pleasure was in his
192
"affiliation with various military organizations, the Grany Army of the
Republic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Society of
the Army of the Tennessee. He never missed a reunion of these
bodies or of his regiment if it was possible for him to attend.
Dr. Plummer died at his home at Rock Island on April 30, 1900, in
the 80th year of his age, having practiced the profession for 58 years,
and haying been a resident of Rock Island for more than half a cen-
tury.
H. A. Johnson, M. D.
Hosmer Allen Johnson was a resident of Chicago and an active and
public spirited citizen during the formative period when it was emerg-
ing from provincialism to cosmopolitanism. The opportunities and
stimulants afforded by these conditions of developmental civil growth
found ready response in his active mind and afforded wide scope for
the efficient employment of his talents in the many public and institu-
tional projects upon which he entered with spirited zeal and to
which he devoted much time apart from his private obligations and
the practice of his profession. His varied activities covering the entire
busy period of his life made their impressions felt in the policy and
efficiency of the organizations with which he was connected. The pro-
fession of medicine, of which he was an honored and influential mem-
ber, was but one of the many fields in which his energetic and progres-
sive mind was impelled to seek service for humanity and the public
good, and the quality of his work displayed his strength of character,
nobleness of purpose and fertility of resourse.
His paternal grandfather Joshua Johnson lived in Worcester, Mass.,
where his grandfather Samuel was born about 1750. His maternal
grandmother Hephzibah Crossby was also a native of the same place
born about the same time. His father Samuel Johnson was born in
Manilius, N. Y., in 1797, the mother's maiden name was Sally Allen.
Her ancesters for three generations resided near the head of Lake
Champlain where she was born in 1773 at Port Ann. The father's
name was Parmley and Col. Ethan Allen was a second cousin. Her
mother's name was Deborah Burroughs, and on her mother's side of an
old Dutch family in New York. The grandfather served through the
war of Independence, his grandfather Allen holding a commission as
captain. Dr. Hosmer Allen Johnson was born in the town of Wales,
Erie Co., N. Y., Oct. 6, 1822. While he was still very young his par-
ents, with the old grandparents, removed to Boston Hill, twenty miles
southeast of Buffalo, and when he was twelve years old all removed to
Michigan, near Almont, Lapeer Co.
His earlier youth was spent on the frontier where primeval forest
lands were being created into farms, and where the red man still lin-
gered in the haunts of the encroaching civilization.
His opportunites for study from this time until he was 21 years old
were few. During the nine years from 12 to 21 years of age, his atten-
dance on school in all was only about eight or possibly ten months. He,
however, received much help at home from his mother, a woman of
DR. H. A. JOHNSON.
193
unusual ability, firmness and strength of character and whose mental
horizon was much wider and attainments much higher than the oppor-
tunities of a humble life usually present. To her encouragement more
than to all other agencies or influences, he felt indebted for whatever
of success attended his subsequent life. It was under her guidance
chiefly that he acquired the elements of a common school education.
When -19 years old he taught a district school and this he did for the
next four winters.
When about 17 years old he contracted a severe cold, sequal of ex-
haustion from labor and during the rest of his life he was susceptible
to bronchial and pulmonary infections. For some months after this
cold he lost in flesh and strength and his physicians believed he had
consumption. His chronic cough persisted intermittently throughout
his life and until well past three score he lost in every year from two
to four months work from sickness.
In the spring of 1844 he commenced preparing for college at Romeo,
Mich., under Prof. Rufus Nutting, here he met his life long bosom
friend Edmund Andrews. With Andrews he entered the sophomore
class at Ann Arbor, in the fall of 1846.
In 1854 his father died leaving him entirely dependent upon his own
exertion for support, thus entailing an additional burden upon his
student life. His college course was interrupted by ill health and at
the close of his junior year he was advised by Profs. Douglas and Sager
to go home and abandon the struggle. They both believed he would
not live through the year if he attempted to graduate with his class.
He did not go home, but borrowed some money and went with his sis-
ter by boat to Chicago and from there to St. Louis, where he made an
effort to get a position but was not successful. From there they went
to Vandalia, formerly the capital of Illinois, where they remained until
the next April. His mother had a brother living there and their home
was with him. There they taught school, his sister taking charge of the
girls' department. In the meantime letters from the classmates An-
drews and Donaldson kept them informed of their progress in Ann
Arbor. He roomed in the office of Dr. J. B. Herrick, and spent two
hours each day reading medicine, five hours in teaching and devoting
sufficient time to college study to keep abreast of his classes at Ann
Arbor. The remainder of his time he spent in miscellaneous reading,
recreation and sleep. He also during the winter dissected a human
cadaver and gave a series of lectures upon geology and botany to a
little group of young people. His lectures were a part of his college
studies and the engagement was a stimulus to work. In April, with
health much improved, he went back to Ann Arbor and at the close
of the term passed the examination in all the studies pursued by the
class excepting Italian. Under the encouragement of Prof. Fasqelle
he cleared away this condition in a few weeks. During his college
course at Ann Arbor he also attended a course of dissections under Dr.
Moses Gunn, subsequently a member of the faculty of Rush Medical
College, Chicago. After graduation he went back to the old home. In
September he taught in "the Union High school at Flint, Mich., re-
maining there for a year and continuing his medical studies under the
-13 H S
194
direction of Dr. De Laskie Miller, afterwards for many years a pro-
fessor in Rush Medical College. In the summer of 1850, during an
illness of Dr. Miller's family he first practiced medicine and attended
his first obstectrical case. In the fall of 1850 he came to Chicago and
attended lectures in Rush Medical College devoting a part of each day
to teaching for self-support and he also assisted the professor of anato-
my and exhibiting microscopical structures with the solar microscope.
In the spring of 185 1 Mercy Hospital was opened in Chicago under the
care of the Sisters of Mercy and Dr. Johnson became the first interne
or resident physician, remaining in the service for one year. In Febru-
ary he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from Rush Medical
College and a few weeks later was appointed resident physician to the
United States Marine Hospital just then completed at Chicago. He
also during the same spring became assistant editor of the Northwest-
ern Medical and Surgical Journal, later known as the Chicago Medical
Journal and Examiner. His relations to the Journal as editor and
assistant editor continued for five years. His duties in the Marine Hos-
pital did not require all of his time and he opened an office with the late
Dr. Wm. B. Herrick, the senior editor of the Medical Journal and
prossessor of Anatomy and Physiology at Rush Medical College.
At the annual commencement exercises at the university at Ann
Arbor he received the degree of A. M. from his Alma Mater. His
thesis presented to the faculty in the winter of 185 1 was as required by
the rules of the university at that time in Latin and had for its title
"Clamae Variatione in Eadem Latitudiana Causae." He further received
the degree of LL. D. from the University of Chicago. In the fall of
1853 he was appointed lecturer of Physiology in Rush Medical College
and in 1855 Professor of Materia Medica and Physics and Medical
Jurisprudence. In 1857 he was transferred to the chair of Physiology
and General Pathlogy.
In 1859 a second medical school was established under the auspices
of Lind University now Lake Forest University by Drs. H. A. John-
son, Edmund Andrews, R. N. Isham and David Rutter. They were
joined also by Drs. N. S. Davis and Wm. H. Byford, all with the ex-
ception of Dr. Rutter resigned in Rush Medical College faculty to or-
ganize a new and better method of teaching, proposed for the new
school and for which purpose it was especially established. At dif-
ferent times in the history of the new school Dr. Johnson filled the
chair of materia medica of physiology and histology, of pathological
anatomy, of diseases of the respiratory and circulatory apparatus, of
clinical medicine and lastly that of the principals and practices of
medicine and clinical medicine. During the last ten years of his life he
did not take an active part in the work of the school, but retained the
relationship of the last mentioned chair during his life. His counsels
were strong of maintaining the policy and shaping the advancement of
the school. In his earlier years he was president of the faculty and
later president of the board of trustees. These two offices he filled
successfully from the inception of the school until the time of his death,
195
Outside of the school he also did much to further medical teaching by
energetically advocating and taking steps towards securing the State
laws favoring this section.
Dr. Johnson's collateral activities, civic, state and national, were
many and varied in the numerous organizations, medical and others in
which he served.
In June 1852 he became a member of the Illinois State Medical
Society. He was for several years its secretary and in 1858 was elected
its president. He became a member of the American Medical Associa-
tion in 1854, and from i860 to 1863 was one of -its secretaries. He was
one of the original members of the Chicago Literary Club and was its
third president. He was one of the original members of the Chicago
Academy of Sciences and served as the first corresponding secretary.
Subsequently after the great fire of 1871, he served as its president and
after that until his death, as one of its trustees. He was a charter mem-
ber of the Illinois State Micropical Society and served repeatedly as its
president. His interest in microscopy was exceedingly broad. It re-
ceived its first impetus in the solar microscropical demonstration above
alluded to and later included, not only medical microscopy but ex-
tended into other fields. He was for many years a member of the Chi-
cago Astronomical Society and one of its trustees and for several years
its president. He was a member of the American Laryngological As-
sociation, the Climatological Association, the Academy of Medicine,
the American Microscopical Society and a fellow of the Royal Mi-
croscopical Society of London, England. He was also a correspond-
ing member of several other scientific societies. In 1867 he was ap-
pointed a member of the Board of Health of the City of Chicago and
served six years in that capacity. His term included the trying years
following the great fire of 1871. In 1879 after the fearful outbreak of
yellow fever in the South, he was appointed a member of the National
Board of Health and served in that capacity five years. He was a
member of the American Public Health Association from its founding
in 1872, and served in the advisory counsel, the executive committee
and as its president. He was a trustee of the Eastern University of
Chicago, prior to the dissolution of that organization, and later a trustee
of the Northwestern L^niversity at Evanston, which office he held up to
the time of his death. At the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion,
he was appointed by Governor Richard Yates of Illinois as a member
of the Board of Examiners, with the rank of major. To this board
was referred every candidate for appointment as surgeon or assistant
surgeon to the Illinois troops. He was elected president of the board.
He records that in this capacity, "I with the board examined about
twelve hundred doctors and I know that very many incompetent men
were kept out of the service by the action of the board. In my official
capacity, I visited the front much of the way from Vicksburg around
to Port Royal and became somewhat familiar with the experiences of
our armies in camp and on the battle field." For many years he was a
director of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society and repeatedly served
as its president. The distribution of more than five millions of dollars
in monev bv that societv, after the great fire, involved much responsi-
196
bility and much hard work. During that terrible winter, he devoted
practically all of his energies and time to the almost overwhelming
task devolving upon that organization. His special duty as Chairman
of the Committee on Sick, Sanitary and Hospital methods, was a very
important part of the relief work and he was given the responsibility
of providing for the needs of the city and its unfortunates in a manner
to relieve present suffering and forestall later epidemic illness that
might result from improper sanitary care of the city and its many
homeless sufferers. During the crisis he was a member of the Chicago
Board of Health. This added obligation increased his responsibility,
but it also increased, perhaps more prompt co-operation and co-ordi-
nation of these two bodies, thus increasing the efficiency of their service.
Dr. Johnson considered this work as among the most useful things he
had done in his life. It certainly required a high degree of sacrifice,
both of material interest and personal comforts, and it was most earn-
estly entered upon and was carried through a lofty spirit of altruism
and devotion to duty. During his whole medical life he was intimately
connected with one or more hospitals in the city, beginning with his
internship at Mercy Hospital, where he was the first incumbent. He
served as physician in Mercy, St. Luke and Cook County Hospitals.
In the latter he was at one time pathologist. He was consulting physi-
cian at the Woman's Hospital, the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary and
Michael Reese Hospital, and on retiring from active general practice,
retained his connection with Mercy Hospital, St. Luke and the Wom-
an's Hospital as consulting physician. His professional duties and his
many assumed obligations were a great tax upon his strength, early
broken by ill health and further weakened by repeated sicknesses. He
made almost yearly journeys from home for recuperation, in addition
to the many required of him in the fullfilment of his obligations. In
that way he traveled in all parts of his own country, in Mexico and
the East Indies. He visited Europe seven times, portions of his earlier
visits abroad being spent in hospital observations and study. His pro-
fessional and scientific writings were in form of many addresses, re-
ports of cases and essays upon various subjects. They were published
in journals and in the volumes of transactions of societies or from time
to time in pamphlet form. He edited the report of the Relief and Aid
Society published in 1874, detailing the system of relief and account-
ing for the distribution of the fire-fund, and that portion of it relating
to sick, hospital and sanitation measures was prepared by him or under
his immediate direction.
In the early years of his practice he was associated with Drs. Brain-
ard and Herrick, and a considerable portion of his work was surgery.
This was later abandoned for a more strictly medical field, although he
continued to practice surgery of the throat and nose, and for a good
many years, this branch was a very important part of his work. He
never confined himself to it as a specialty and his chief medical
strength lay in general medicine. In the sick-room and in the hospital
wards, his presence was that of an ideal physician. No detail escaped
him, but his vigilance was unobtrusive and masked by manly gentle-
ness of manner that won the hearts and confidence of his patients and
197
attendants alike and inspired that hope which adds a physic stimulus
to the normal healing powers of nature. His home relations were very
happy, although not free from sorrows of affliction. In 1855 he was
married to Margaret Ann Seward, a daughter of the late J. B. Seward,
who was a cousin of William H. Seward. There were born to them a
son and a daughter. The daughter always frail, always the center of
the family's generous care and affection, died in 1888 at the age of
thirty years. Her broad culture, her delicate wit, her bright and happy
mind, made her the pride and the pet of her family and her friends.
The son Frank Seward Johnson, graduated from the Department of
Arts and Sciences in the Northwestern University in 1878 and from the
Chicago Medical College in 1881, and is a practicing physician in his
native city.
The later years of Dr. Johnson's life were years of comparative
rest, although he was never able to reduce his activities more than his
failing body compelled. Yet he enjoyed in a measure the restfulness
of age, accustomed through life to strenuous work under conditions of
fluctuating health and patient suffering. He habitually and unceas-
ingly excelled the bounds of his strength and in February, 1891, after
a cold country-ride he succumbed to a disease he had successfully
fought in four previous illnesses and died of acute pneumonia, Febru-
ary 26, 1891.
The purity and the simplicity of his early life and the untarnished
beauties of his wilderness-home lent their influence in directing the
trend of his receptive and active mind and in determining it to high
ideals. As his character ripened he developed rare judgment, a judg-
ment deepened by insight and an unerring sense of justice and a love
of truth almost divine. These characteristics were coupled with an in-
born and an early enforced industry, and were a splendid equipment for
his successful life-work. His gentility, equanimity and sense of justice
made him universally a favorite, and in the serious work of his life he
brought honor and advancement to his every undertaking.
PART II
DOCUMENTS
201
DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE OCCUPATION OF THE
ILLINOIS COUNTRY BY THE BRITISH.
Contributed by Clarence E. Carter, University of Illinois.
In printing the following documents an attempt has been made to
bring together the papers relating directly to the actual occupation of
Fort de Chartres* and the Illinois country. Although France definitely
gave up her claims to the region west of the Alleghany Mountains in
1763, the British were unable to relieve the French garrison in the
Illinois region until 1765. This was due to the breaking out of the
great Indian rebellion in 1763, which effectually blocked all the roads
to the west. Unsuccessful attempts were made in 1764 to reach Fort
de Chartres by way of the Mississippi river. The pacification of the
Indian nations, however, seemed to be the first consideration. This
was accomplished by 1765 and in the summer of that year General
Gage sent orders to Fort Pitt directing Captain Sterling, with a de-
tachment of the 426. Regiment, to proceed down the Ohio river to the
Illinois country. The papers here presented relate the story of the oc-
cupation and the events immediately following. Although search has
been made in the Public Record Office and in the British Museum as
well as in our own depositories, I have been unable to find any other
documents relating directly to the event. There are, however, num-
erous references to the occupation scattered throughout the Gage and
Johnson correspondence.
ElDINGTON TO (?) OCTOBER I7, I765.
Copy, letter from Lieut James Eidington of the 42d (or Royal High-
land) regiment, one of the four officers who with a hundred of that reg-
iment took possession of Fort Chartres, dated Fort Chartres, 17th
October, 1765.1
I wrote you from Fort Pitt before I left that place, giving an ac-
count of the long journey I was about to undertake; we left the above
post August 24th and did not arrive here till the 9th instant ; and we
have found the distance to answer the French account which is Five
*The French name of the fort was Fort de Chartres. The British officers are probably re -
sponsible for the dropping- of the "de". ^^ . • , ^ ^ ^
tChatham MSS.. vol. 97 Public Record Office, London. • The original draft does not seeni to
have been preserved. There is nothing in the extract that remains to indicate to whom the let-
ter was written.
202
Hundred Leagues. The Passage was pleasant enough, until we came
to the Mississippi, but after that it became immensely fatiguing from
the rapidity of the Stream.
I believe I mentioned to you the great chance there was of our being
cutt off from the Capriciousness of the Savages, and their not being ac-
customed to the English, and from the great Regard they have always
shown to the French, who have no doubt used every Method to prevent
the English getting Possession of the Illinois country ; from whence I
may almost say one-third of the Fur Trade of North America centers,
but as good luck would have it we passed the numerous Nations of
Indians, and even came here in the most critical Season of the Year,
and when all the Savages was out a Hunting, and have got Peaceable
Possession of one of the pretyest Stone Fort I ever saw, though that
is indeed saying all of it, for we neither found Ammunition nor any
other Stores, that are usually expected in such a place, and if every-
thing of the necessary kind can't be got before the Spring which is the
great time of the Indians to come to trade, and should they take any-
thing in their heads the Garrison must be left to their mercy, and what
can One hundred men do without Provisions against three or four
thousand Indians, but this is only the worst side of things, and now
for the Inhabitants and Country, etc.
The French have dispersed themselves through the Country in several
small villages, and have several small Forts, that is to say at the Chief
of their towns, they, however, withdrew their Troops from all the above
posts, except Fort Chartres, where they had a Captain & another
Officer and about forty men, with a Commissary and some other Petty
Officers : the French Troops we relieved here might be called anything
else but Soldiers, in short I defy the best drol or comick to represent
them at Drury Lane.
Monsieur Saint Ange who is the French Commandant removed his
Garrison to the other side of the Mississippi, where the French Mer-
chants have built several Towns, and either has or is to remove to the
Spanish Side. Their reason is too plain to need any explanation and
can be with no other view than that of depriving us of the chief benefit
of our new Country, namely the Indian Trade.
The above will no doubt be a Bone of Future Contention, and of
course business for us.
The Merchants and Inhabitants make us pay an immoderate price for
everything we have occasion for, and as the English Merchants have
not yet arrived nor can they now until the Spring, it will be attended
with a great expence. They have indeed but little here, for they are do-
ing us a vast favor when they let us have a Gallon of French Brandy at
twenty Shillings Sterling, and as the price is not as yet regulated, the
Eatables is in proportion.
The only thing we solace ourselves with is that of being relieved,
which we hope very soon. The 34th Regiment* we daily expect for
that purpose, but should they not arrive in a short time, it will be im-
possible for them tocome till the Spring.
*The 34th Regiment was coming from Mobile under the command of Major Parmar.
203
The Country here is indeed very fine and praiseworthy and capable
of raising- anything, but it is much too flat to be healthy, for it is not
uncommon for Plains of two or three hundred miles on a Stretch, all
of which is well stocked with Bufifalo, and all sorts of Game.
As I think there is now a great chance of this never coming to your
hand, I have not been so particular or exact as I otherwise would,
and must refer you to my next when I shall have it more in my power.
Sterling to Gage, October i8, 1765.
Extract of a letter from Capt. Sterling commanding a detachment
of the 426. Regiment at Fort Chartres in the Ilinois country; to His
Excel'y Gen. Gage. Dated Fort Chartres, Oct. i8th, 1765.*
"I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency of my arrival at
this Port, with the Detachment under my Command, on the 9th Inst.,
after having been Forty-Seven Days on the Way, the lowness of the
Ohio made the Navigation extremely difficult & tedious and tho'
I made the utmost Expedition, it was not in my Power to do it sooner.
I met a French Trader about Forty Miles below the Oubache with Two
Boats loaded & Thirty Men and the Shawanese Chief who Lieut.
Eraser mentioned in His Letter to have come to the Ilinoisf with a Talk
from Mr. d'Aubry. He is very much in the French Interest, & did
everything in His Power to dissuade the few Indians that accompanied
the Party from Fort Pitt, from proceeding and to intimidate us, he
had likewise persuaded the French to fire on the party which they had
agreed to do, if they had not found it too strong, this I was assured
of by an Indian who was with them and run away, when they had
taken the resolution, as he would not be present when the English were
struck, Finding- the French in this Disposition I thought it necessary
to send Lieut. Rumsey by Land with two Indians and two of the
French who undertook to conduct him to Fort Chartres, from Fort
Massiac, with a Letter to Mr. St. Ange to acquaint Him of my approach,
and likewise that he might send Me notice in case the Indians were ill-
disposed. By some accident they lost their way, and Lieut. Rumsey
did not get there for Ten Days, so that with the diligence we used in
getting up the Mississippi, the Detachment was within a League of the
Village of Caskaskia before they had the least intelligence of our
approach, which alarmed both the Savages and Inhabitants prodigious-
ly. The former, after having consulted, agreed to meet us, with their
Pipes of Peace, which they did next day, but no sooner saw our Num-
bers but they began to be very insolent, & I am much convinced that
our coming so unexpectedly was the luckiest thing that could have
happened, for tho' Mr. Croghan wrote that he had met and con-
cluded a Peace at Ouiatonons with the Ilinois Chiefs, I am very well
assured that not one of the Chiefs of the Nations living here were there,
I arrived next day at Fort Chartres with my whole Detachment and
*Public Record office. America and West Indies, vol. 122. Transcripts of the two Sterling-
letters and the memorial are to be found in the Bancroft collection, Lenox library. The ex-
tracts are all we have preserved of the Sterling correspondence.
Illinois was frequently spelled with one I.
204
took possession of it. Mr. St. Ange had received Orders from
Mr. d'Aubrie so soon as he had d^Hvered up this Country to the British
Troops, to go with His Garrison to the other side of the River, but as
he expected to be reheved by Major Farmer, whose approach he
would have to have some notice of, he was quite unprepared to go
away immediately, therefore beg'd some little time, which I could not
refuse him, as I imagined it could not be of any hurt to His Majesty's
Service, being in possession of all the Posts and Country of the Ilinois.
The Fort of Caskaskias having been abandoned by the French since
the Treaty of Peace, it is almost in ruins, one face of it having fallen
down, which prevented my sending a Detachment there, and indeed
my party is so small and the Indians so numerous, so easily assembled
and So insolent that I thought it for His Majesty's Service not to divide
my little Force. The Indians have not been accustomed to have Troops
among them since the Peace, so that they have been quite Masters
here, and treated the Inhabitants as they thought proper, which has
drove several of them to the other side of the River, were there is two
Villages, one opposite to Caskaskias, settled about fourteen Years ago,
called St. Genevieve, and has about Twenty-five familys, the other
about Twenty Leagues higher up, called St. Louis, & has Forty families.
It is established since the Cession of this Country to the English by
those who either did not like to be under our Government or were
frightened for the Indians; I order'e a Detachment and went myself
to Caskaskias to have Your Excelcy's Proclamation read, and to make
the Inhabitants take the oath of Fidelity, the whole presented a
Memorial praying for Nine Months to settle their Affairs and to de-
termine themselves whither they would continue under the British
Government, before they should be obliged to take the Oath, which I
flatly refused them and they seemed resolved to go over immediately
As I imagined it would be a very great detriment to this Colony to
have it depopulated, I at last agreed to grant them to the first of March,
they taking an oath of fidelity to His Majesy during their residence
under His Government, which they all consented to and took, and I
suppose will be the terms the rest of the Inhabitants will stay on, as
this is the principal Village, not one yet having given in their Names
to go away. I hope Your Excellency will approve of what I have
done, as it was what I judged for the best, I intend sending an
Officer to Cauho, it being the next considerable village, the Prairiech
Rocher, and St. Phillip having only a few Inhabitants, the Village of
this place is quite depopulated, the River having run away with half
of it, and every one is of Opinion that it will carry away the Fort next
Spring, it having carried off more of the Land betwixt it and the Fort
last year, than what remains, which is a great pity, as it is one of the
best constructed Forts against the Indians in America, and able to
contain 200 Men. Mr. St. Ang's Troops consist of One Officer and
Twenty men, who are all here, and I expect He will be ready to leave
this in a few days and I shall take care that no French Soldiers con-
tinue in this Country, there is numbers of reduced Officers, but as
they have no pay & are commenced Traders, I allowed them the same
terms as the Inhabitants, I found no judges nor any police, I have
205
made some few Regulations with regard to that, I have not been able
to get an exact account yet of the Numbers of Inhabitants, but shall
transmit that or any thing else I may learn by the first Opportunity.
"I beg leave to represent to Your Excellency the disagreeable Situa-
tion I am in here without an Agent or Interpreter for the Indians, or
Merchandize for Presents to them which they all expect, I brought a
few things from Fort Pitt, but they were neither sufficient nor proper,
and I have been obliged to take up some Goods from the French Mer-
chants at a Dear rate. Your Excellency in Your Instructions to Me
supposed that Mr. Croghan would be here, but I learn from Detroit
that he is gone down to our Colonies, Numbers of the Indians have
already come in to receive presents, and I've been obliged to put them
off with some small things, and Promises of more in the spring when
there will be great Numbers of them on that Account, and to sell Skins,
it is therefore of the greatest Consequences that Major Farmer should
be here before they assemble as a respectable Body of Troops will keep
them in Awe, and they would not have it in their power to obstruct
His Passage, I have received a good deal of assistance from Mr. St.
Ange in quieting the Indians, and I am convinced he has had no hand
in the Commotions the French may have been stirring up with Indians,
to the contrary he saved Mr. Croghan's Life when they had determined
to burn him, by sending an Express with two Belts to the Savages, for
which I have seen Mr. Croghan's Letter of thanks.
"Mr. St. Ange hesitated a good while before he delivered up the
amunition and Artillery Stores. As he said His positive Orders were, to
give up the Fort with Ten Pieces of Cannon, however he has agreed.
Your Excellency will see by the Inventory I have the honor to send
you how little Value they are of, and how small a quantity of Powder
he had. When I left Fort Pitt Colonel Reid did not think it necessary
I should have much Ammunition with me, as I should find it here, there-
fore gave me little more than Sixty Pounds, I have therefore applied
to the Merchants, and they have agreed to spare me a little with the
Proviso that I take goods likewise, they put it out of my power of
laying my Hands upon it, as thy Transported it to the other side.
"I have just now received a Petition to be transmitted to Your Excel-
lency from the Inhabitants of Caskaskias, which they insist I should,
as it was in hopes of your granting them that, that made them accept of
the terms I allowed them.
'T likewise send enclosed the Verbal process of the cession of the
Fort & the Inventory of the Artillery, Stores of every kind, signed
by Mr. St. Ange and me, and likewise by the French Commissary and
Lieut. Rumsey, who I appointed to act as Commissary, there is a
Declaration ad'ded that all the Stores belonging to His Most Christian
Majesty at the time of our taking possession has been delivered up.
Mr. St. Ange just now put a Protest in my Hands against my taking
the Powder, etc., which is contrary to His Instructions, & when I ex-
postulated with him about it. He told Me it was only to exculpate Him
in case He should be found fault with, by disobeying His orders.
206
(Indorsed.)
Extract of a letter from Captain Sterling commanding a detachment of the
42nd Regiment at Fort Chartres, in the Illinois country, to His Excellency
General Gage.
Dated Fort Chartres, October 18th, 1765,
In Major Gen. Gage's of the 16th Jan'y, 1765, giving account of his taking
Possession of the Illinois country & of the situation of affairs there.
Proces-Verbal de la Cession du Fort de Chartre.
a Monsieur Sterling, io 8 bre, 1765.
LOUISIANNE.
10. 8bre 1765.
Proces-verbal de la Cession du fort de
Chartre a Monsieur Sterling nomme par
Monsieur Degage Gouverneur de la nouvelle
Yorck, Commandant les troupes de sa ATajeste
Britannique dans I'Amerique.
Aujourd'hui dix Octobre mille Sept cent soixante cinq, nous Louis
Saint Ange de Belrive, Captaine d'infanterie. Commandant pour sa
Majeste tres chretienne au dit fort de Chartre et Joseph Lefebvre,
Garde des magasins du Roi et fesant fonction de Commissaire au dit
fort en consequence des ordres que nous avons regu de Messieurs
Aubry, Chevalier de I'ordre royal et militaire de saint Louis, Com-
mandant de la province de la Louisanne et Foucault Commissaire
controleur de la marine, ordonnateur en la dite province pour ceder a
Mr. Sterling, nomme par Mr. Degage, gouverneur de la nouvelle Yorck
et commandant general des troupes de sa Maieste britannique dans
I'Amerique et dans toute la partie gauche de la province de la Louisi-
anne suivant le septieme article du traite definitif de la paix conclue a
Versailles le 10 fevrier 1763, Entre sa Majeste tres chretienne de
france et de Navarre et sa Majeste Britannique, le dit fort de Chartre.
Nous avons procede a la dite cession ainsi qu"il suit :
SAVIOR.
Le dit fort de Chartre, situe la face au fleuve .au sud a quatre cents
lieus environ de la nouvelle Orleans.
Le fort de Chartre
Le bastion du sud Est, jusqu'a ce^ui du Sud-Ouest inclusives quatre
vingt toises et demi et deux pieds
Face d'Ouest avec ses bastions
Dix neuf toises et demi
Du flanc du Bastion
Cinq toises et demi
♦Transcript of a copy in "Paris Documents. 17 :252-6.'?." in ttie New York State
Library : compared by A. ,J. F. van Lear. A translation of tlie French version appears
in the New Yorli Colonial Documents. Vol. X :11G1-1165.
-'07
Des Latrines
Trois toises, un pied.
Face entre les deux bastions
des latrines inclusivement
Cinquante six toises
Face du Nord
Vingt quatre toises
Face d'une Courtine au Nord
Cinquante neuf toises et demi
Face de I'Est
a commencer de la guerite Nord-Est
Vingt six toises
Courtine du Nord-Est
Soixante et tine toises et demi
GRANDE PORTE D'ENTRl^E.
Hauteur de la porte au sud jusqu'a la voute.
Dix pieds de haut.
L Arcade de la voute au dessus de la Porte.
Cinq pieds de haut, Dix piede de large.
Deux toises de profondeur garnie d'une guerite a chaque cote, une
plate forme audessus de la porte de pierre de taille de trois toises de
long et deux de large avec deux gouttiers en plomb garnis d'une
galerie de bois, le portail de la porte en pierre de taille, deux embrasures
sur la plate forme ouverte, une escalier de dix neuf marches faites de
moitons et planches, avec un garde fou de moiton pour monter a la
dite plate forme, un vent fort de chaque cote de la dite porte en dedans
garni de chaque cote de quartre bornes de pierre de taille, deux en
dedans, deux en dehors.
CORPS DE BATIMENT
servant de Magasin et de logement au garde-Magasin.
Cote du Sud.
Ouatorze toises de long, quatre toises a I'Ouest et quatre a I'Est,
Cinq fenetres au Sud en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents
et pentures de fer ainsi que de leurs chassis, a la mansarde deux
fenetres en bois garnies de leurs contrevents et pentures, au pignon de
rOuest une fenetre en pierre de taille garnie de ses contrevents et
pentures.
Cote du Nord.
Deux chambres, un cabinet pour le logement du grade magasin, deux
dito servant de magasin avec un escalier, trois portes en pierre de
taille, garnies de leurs contrevents et chassis et pentures a la mansarde
trois fenetres en bois garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrure. une
cheminee double.
208
CORPS DE GARDE.
Cote du sud.
Quartorze toises de long, quatre toises a I'Ouset et quatre toises a
I'Est, cinq fenetres en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et
ferrurres, au pignon de I'Est deux fenetres en pierre de taille. garnis
de leurs contrevents et ferrures, a la mansarde deux fenetres en bois
garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, au pignon de I'ouest une porta
en pierre de taille pour entrer au Corps de grade garnie de ses ferrures.
Fagade du Nord.
Une chambre pour le Corps de garde, une chambre pour I'Officier,
une chambre pour le Canonnier avec un escalier pour monter au grenier,
deux chambres et une cabinet pour la Chapelle et logement du mission-
naire, un eventail au dessus de celui de la Chapelle, quatre fenetres en
pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, a la mansarde
trois fenetres en bois garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures une chem-
inee double et une simple.
GOUVERNEMENT.
Face du Sud.
Treize toises et demi et cinq toises a I'Ouest, quatre fenetres en pierre-
de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, deux portes en pierre
de taille, une en eventail, garnies de leurs ferrures, un tambour avec
un escalier dedans pour monter au grenier, deux chambres, trois cabi-
nets, garnis de leurs portes et ferrures, une cuisine avec un four dedans,
un cabinet garni de leurs portes et ferrures, une cave, a la mansarde
trois fenetres en bois garnies.
Face du Nord.
Une porte en pierre de taille garnie de ses ferrures, cinq fenetres en
pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, un oeil de beuf,
a la mansard deux fenetres en bois garnies de leurs contrevens et
ferrures, au pignon de L'Ouest, une chambre, un cabinet, une fenetre
en pierre de taille garnies de ses contrevents et ferrures, deux toises
de hauteur de mur, deux cheminees double, une remise a I'Ouest, un
colombier de deux toises, cave a trois toises de haut avec un grand puit
dedans en pierre.
INTENDANCE.
Face du Sud.
Treize toises et demi et cinq toises a I'Ouest, deux portes en pierre
de taille, une a eventail garnies de leurs ferrures, quatre fenetres en
pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevens et ferrures, a la mansarde,
trois fenetres en bois garnies de leurs pentures et contrevens, un tam-
bour avec un escalier pour monter au grenier, deux chambres et trois
cabinets garnis de leurs ferrures, une cuisine, avec un four dedans, et
un cabinet garnis de leurs portes et ferrures une cave, a I'Est deux
fenetres en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures,
une chambre et un cabinet.
209
Au Nord.
Une porte en pierre de taille garnie de sa ferrure, cinq fenetres en
pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents, et fermres, deux chem-
inees double, un four pour les troupes.
ler CORPS DE CASERNE
Face de I'Est
Vingt toises et deux pieds, au nord deux toises et deux pieds, trois
portes en pierre de taille garnies de leurs ferrures, deux Corridors, un
escalier, dans un pour monter au grenier, trois chambres de Caserne,
deux chambres et deux cabinets pour logement d'Officier .garnies de
leurs contrevents et ferrures, neuf fenetres en pierre d taille garnies de
leurs contrevents pentures, a la mansarde, six fenetres de bois garnies
de leurs contrevents et ferrures.
Face de I'Ouest
Deux portes en pierre de taille garnies de leurs ferrures, cinq fenetres
en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et frrures, a la mansarde
trois fenetres en bois garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, au nord
im appenti avec une porte en bois garni de sa ferrure et trois fenetres
en bois garnies de leurs contrevents et pentures, au sud une fenetre en
pierre de taille garnie de son contrevent et penture trois cheminees
doubles.
2e CORPS DE CASERNE
Face de I'Ouest
Vingt toises et deux pieds et cinq toises au sud trois portes en pierre
de taille garnies de leurs ferrures, deux corridors, un escalier dans un
pour monter au grenier, trois chambres de Caserne et deux chambres
et deux Cabinets pour logement d'Officir garnies de leurs portes et
ferrures, neuf fenetres en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents
et ferrures, a la mansarde, six fenetres de bois garnies de leurs contre-
vents et ferrures.
Face de I'Est.
Deux portes en pierre de taille garnies de leurs ferrures, cinq fenetres
en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, a la man-
sard trois fenetres en bois garnies de leurs contrevents et ferrures, au
sud une fenetre en pierre de taille
POUDRIER
Quartre toises de front avec sa porte en pierre de taille garnie de
deux portes, une en tole et I'autre en bois garnies de leurs ferrures, cinq
toises et demi de large, six toises de long, un corps de batiment, deux
toises de haut, une fenetre de haut en pierre de taille garni de ses con-
trevens en bois et un de fer.
BOULANGERIE
Sept toises du nord, onze pieds de haut, deux pignons de deux toises
chacun, quatre fenetres en pierre de taille garnies de leurs contrevens
—14 H S
2IO
et ferrures, deux chambres et un cabinet garnis de leur portes et fer-
rures, deux fours dedans un escalier avec son garde fou en bois pour
monter au grenier, deux cheminees simple un puit devan la boulangerie
en pierre.
PRISON
Face du Sud.
Six toises, quatre cachots en pierre de taille garnis de leurs portes et
ferrures, deux portes en pierre de taille garnies de leurs ferrures, une
a rOuest et I'autre a I'Est, quatre fenetres en pierre de taille, garnies
d leurs barreaux de fer et contrevents et ferrures, deux au sud et deux
au Nord axec deux escaliers double, en bois avec un petite galerie a
chaque une cheminee double.
UNE GRANDE PORTE DE DECOURS AU NORD EAGLE A
CELLE DU SUD.
Deux latrines au Nord en bois, et deux a I'Ouest en pierre de Taille
garnies de leurs portes et ferrures.
La hauteur des murs du FORT est de dix huit pieds, Courtine du
Sud du bord du fleuve, de huit pilastres et quarante sept creneaux, dito
celle du nord de huit pilastres et quarante sept creneaux, [dito celle
du Nord de huit pilastres et cinquante creneaux] dito celle de I'Est de
dix pilastres et cinquante cinq creneaux, dito celle de I'Ouest de dix
pilastres et cinquante cinq creneaux.
BASTION de la boulangerie au sud d'Est huit pilastres et cinq-
uante creneaux et huit embrasures, dito celui de la prison sud-Ouest
huit pilastres, quarante neuf creneaux, huit embrasures, dito celui de
Nord-Ouest, huit pilastres et quarante huit creneaux huit embrasures,
dito celui de la poudriere, Nord-Est huit pilastres, cinquante creneaux
et huit embrasures, le tout en pierre de taille, une guerite dans chaque
bastion, sortant dehors du mur en pierre de taille a cul de lampe avec
une corniche au dessus et voutee, sept degres en pierre de taille pour
y monster.
HANGARD
a Quarante toises du Fort,
de poteaux en terre, trois toises au pignon de largeur, dix toises de
longueus, convert en bardeau, une grande cheminee de pierre dans le
milieu soutenue par quatre piliers de bois, une grande porte double,
cinq fenetres garnies de leurs contrevens et ferrures, tons les batimens
ci-dessus detailles converts en bardeaux.
Lesquels batimens et ouvrages de fortifications mentionnes au pre-
sent proces-verbal, nous Officer ci-dessus nomme, avons ce jourd'hui
remis a Monsieur Sterling, nomme par Monsieur Degage, Command-
ant General des troupes de sa Majeste Britannique dans I'Amerique et
dans toute la partie gauche de la Louisianne.
Au fort de Chartre ce lo 8bre 1765.
Nous Commandant les troupes de sa Majeste Britannique au fort de
Chartre et nous Commissaire nomme par sa Majeste Britannique, Nous
211
certifions que les deux copies que Mr. de St. 'Ange et Mr. Lefebvre
ont signe quoique ecrites en Anglais sont conformes au present.
Signe Thos. Sterling.
Signe RuMSEY.
A true copy,
Albany, June lo, 1907.
, A. J. F, Van Laer.
Verbal Process.*
Verbal process of the cession of Fort Chartres to Captain Sterling
of His Majesty's 426. Regiment, appointed by General Gage, comman-
der-in-chief of all His Britannick Majesty's Forces in America.
"This loth day of October, 1765, We, Louis St. Ange, captain of
Infantry and Commandant of the said Fort Chartres, on the part of His
Most Christian Majesty, and Joseph Fievre, King's Commissary, and
Store keeper of said Fort. In consequence of the Orders We Have re-
ceived from Monsieur D'Aubry, Chevalier of the Royal and Order of
St. Louis, Commandant of the Province of Louisiane, and Foucault,
commissary Comptroller of Marine and Ordannateur in said Prov-
ince ; We deliver to Monsieur Stirling aforesaid the said
Fort Chartres viz
Measure.
From the S. E. Bastion to that of the S. W. Inclusive 84 Toises, }4x2 f.
West face with its Bastions 19 toses, 1x2 f .
Flanks of do 5 toses, 1x2 f.
Necessary House 3 toses, 1x1 f.
Face between the two Bastions, with Necessary House Included. .56 toses, Ix f.
North Face 24 toses, Ix f.
Face of the Curtain 59 toses, Ix f .
East Face from the N. E. Gentry Box 26 toses
N. E. Curtain 61 toses, Ix f.
The great Gate of Entry, its Height to the Vault 10 ft.
( 5 feet high.
The porch of the Vault above the Gate J 6 " broad.
( 2 toises in depth
with Two centry Boxes on each side, a platform upon the top of the
whole, built with Free Stone 3 Toises in length and two in breadth,
with two Leaden Spouts, a wooden Gallery, the Arch of the Gate like-
wise in Free Stone, 2 embrazures upon ihe Platform, a Flight of ten
Steps, a Wooden Ladder to ascend said Platform, & a Rearfort on
Each Side of the Gate, with Corner Stones, two without & 4 within
to prevent Carriages, hurting the wall.
Buildings serving as Stores, and Lodgings for the Magazine Guard,
14 Toises in length, 4 Toises on the W. and 4 on the E. end ; five Win-
dows on the South, built with Free Stone, furnished with their Barrs,
shutters etc., etc.
Upon the Roof 2 woden ditto with ditto.
At the Gable end i do in Stone ditto.
♦Public Record Office. America and West Indies, vol. 122. The copy in the Record Office is
the original English version. It is in the handwriting of James Rumsey, commissary.
212
NortKside 2 Chambers and a Closet for the Magazine Guard, 2 Ditto
serving as Stores, with a Stairs, three doors built in Stone, with their
Locks, etc upon the Roof, three Windows in Wood, with Shutters,
Barrs etc., etc. & i double chimney.
Southside, 14 Toises long, 4 toises on the West, 4 do on E. end, 5 "Stone
Windows with Shutters, etc., at the end 2 do. Upon the Roof 2 do
in Wood, at the West end of a Door built in Stone to enter the Guard,
with a Lock, etc. Northface one Chamber for the Gunner, with a pair
of Stairs to ascend the Loft.
I chamber for the Guard, i Do for the Officer, 2 Chambers & a
Closet for the Chapel, a Lodging for the Missionary, a Sash Window
above the Door of the Chapel, 4 Stone Windows with Shutters &c.
3 do in wood upon the Roof with ditto, i double & i Single chimney.
Governors S. — Face.
13 Toises & 1/4 & 5 do to the W. 4 Stone Windows with Shutters
&c. 2 do doors one of which has a Sash above it, both furnished with
Locks &c. an entry with a Stairs to assend the Loft, 2 Chambers &
3 Closets with Doors & Locks, a Kitchen with a small oven, a Closet
with a door &c, a cellar, upon the Roof 3 Windows in Wood with
Shutters Barrs &c.
N. Face.
A Door in Store with its Lock &c, 5 Windows do with Shutters &c
a Skylight upon the roof, 2 Windows in Wood with Shutters &c, 2
toises the height the Wall, 2 double Chimneys, a shed at the W. End, a
Pidgeon House 2 Toises Square, under which is a well.
Intendants S. Face. i-.
13 Toises and ^ & 5 toises at the W. end, 2 Doors in Stone, above
one of them a Small Sash with their Locks &c, 4 Stone Windows with
Shutters &c. Upon the Roof 3 wooden ditto, an entry with a Stairs
to ascend the Loft, 2 Chambers & 3 Closets with their Door and
Lock, a Kitchen with an oven, a Closet with its Door and Lock, a
Celler, at the E. 2 Windows in Stone with Shutters &c, a Chamber &
a Closet.
^ N. Face.
A Door in Stone with a Lock &c, 5 Windows in Do with Shutters
&c, 2 double Chimneys, and an Oven for the Troops.
Cazerne.
20 Toises, and 2 feet, to the N. 2 toises and 2 feet, three Doors in
Stone with their Locks &c. 2 Entries, in one a Ladder to mount the
Loft, 3 Chambers de Cazerne, 2 Chambers and 2 Closets for officers
with doors &c 9 windows in Stone, and Six in Wood upon the Roof
with their Shutters &c.
213
W. Face.
2 Stone Doors with Locks &c, 5 Windows do with Shutters &c, 3
Wooden do in Roof with do a Shed with a wooden door with Locks,
3 Windows do with Shutters at the S. a Window in Stone with Shut-
ters &c, 3 double Chimneys.
2D Cazerne.
,20 Toises and 2 feet, & 5 toises to the S., 2 Doors in Stone with their
Locks, 2 Entrys with a Stairs to ascend the Loft, 3 Chambers de
Cazerne & 2 Chambers & 2 Closets for the Officers with Doors and
Locks, 9 Windows in Stone, & Six in wood upon the Roof with Shut-
ters, &c.
E. Face.
2 Doors in Stone with Locks, 5 Windows in do, & 3 do in wood upon
the Roof with their Shutters & C, at the S End a window in Stone
with Shutters &c. 3 double chimneys and an oven for the Troops.
Powder Magazine.
4 Toises in front with its door in Stone & Lock. Two others in
wood with do, 5 do broad & 6 Toises long within, 2 Toises high a win-
dow upon the East, with its Shutters &c.
The Bake House.
7 Toises to the North 11 feet high the 2 Ends, 2 Toises each, 4
windows in Stone with Shutters &c. 2 Chambers & a Closet with Doors
&c, 2 Ovens, a Ladder to ascend to Loft, 2 Single Chimneys, and a
well before the House.
Prison — S. Face.
Six Toises, 4 Prison Rooms with their Doors &c. 2 doors in Stone
with do. One on the West, and the other on the East, 4 Windows in
Do with Shutters &c. 2 to the South, and 2 to the N. with 2 wooden
stair Cases, & 2 Small Gallerys, and no double Chimneys.
A Large Gate upon the North Side equal in dimension to that upon
the South.
2 necessary Houses to the North in Wood, and 2 to the W in Stone
with Doors and Locks, the Height of the Walls of the Fort is 18 Feet.
The S. Curtain near the River 8 Pilasters and 47 loopholes
N 8 •' and 50
E 10 •' and 55
"W .'!!!.*,! ! 10 •' and 55
Bake house IBastion to the S. E 8 pilasters 50 loopholes and 8 embrazures
Prison 8 " 49 " and 8
N. W 8 " 48 " and 8 ^*
P. Magazine 8 " 50 " and 8
214
All in (a kind of) Free Stone.
A Gentry Box in each Bastion falling on the outside of the wall,
built in Free Stone and Vaulted above with steps to ascend them.
A Pent House for the use of Savages at 40 Toises from the
Fort,
10 Toises long and 3 Broad, with a large Stone Chimney in the Mid-
dle, a large double door, & 5 windows with Shutters &c.
Which Buildings and Fortifications, we the above named Officers
have delivered into the Hands of Monsieur Stirling, appointed by His
Excellency General Gage Commander in Chief of all His Brittannick
Majesty's Forces in America.
Fort Chartres loth Octor, 1765,
(Signed) St. Ange
Le Fievre.
Thos. Stirling,
J. Rumsey, D Commissary.
Inventory of the Goods in Fort Chartres.*
Inventory and State of the Utensils, Military Stores &c, delivered
this day by le Sieur le Fievre, Commissary on the part of His most
Christian Majesty, to Thomas Stirling, Esq. Captain Commandant
of His Brittannick Majesty's Troops and bearer of the orders of His
Excellency General Gage which Stores have been verified, by Lieu-
tenant James Rumsey of the 42d Regiment appointed Commissary on
the part of His Brittannick Majesty, by Capt. Thomas Stirling afore-
said.
Fort Chartres, Oct. 1765.
In the 1st Apartment.
2.
2 Bedsteads.
13 bad chairs.
1 Small Press with 2 drawers.
2 arm ditto.
28 Rush Cotton Chairs.
2 do.
1 Table with a Drawer.
13 Common do, Serviceable.
2 Common dito.
1 Table with a cloth.
1 pair of Iron Dogs.
1 Small folding do.
1 Fire Shovel.
2 Bedsteads.
3 Buckets.
1 Press.
1 Large Kettle.
1 pair of dogs, 1 shovel & tongs.
1 Pair of dogs.
1 Fire Shovel.
3rd.
1 Pair of Tongs.
1 Press.
1 Table.
1 Bedstead.
1 Small Press.
2 ditto.
Bedstead.
1 large Table & 2 Frames for do.
Straw Bed.
1 Small do with a drawer.
4 Bedsteads with Bottoms & one
1 arm & 8 Common Chairs.
without.
♦Original MSS. Public Record office, America and West Indies, Vol. 122.
215
Inventory of the Goods in Fort Chartres — Continued.
2 bad Chairs, 2 Small Presses & a
large Table.
5 Chairs.
2 Folding Tables.
1 Large Bufet.
1 Large Bedstead.
1 Bucket.
1 pair of dogs.
1 Shovel & Tongs & one Small Press.
2 Presses, 1 Rack for Arms.
2 bad Straw beds, & a Bedstead.
1 gooa & 2 bad Bedsteads.
1 Large Press & 1 Small.
1 Table with a bad cloth.
1 Bedstead & 3 Presses.
4 Chairs & one Table with a drawer.
2 Bedsteads without Bottoms.
1 Bucket.
1 Large and 1 small Press.
2 Folding and 1 Common Table.
4 chairs, one of which is bad.
3 Common Bedsteads without bot-
toms.
1 Rack for holding arms.
1 Shelf to hold the Mens Bread & 1
Trough.
10.
7 Common Bedsteads.
1 Large Table for the Soldiers, 1
Rack for arms.
1 Shelf for Bread, Bench, & 1 Straw
Bed— bad.
11
7 Common Bedsteads.
1 Rack & Soldiers Table, with 2 bad
& 1 good chair.
12 Hospital.
4 Bed steads with & 3 without Bot-
toms.
1 Soldiers Table, 2 benches, & a shelf
for Bread.
1 Bucket & 2 small Tubs.
2 pair Coarse Sheets.
4 Buffaloe Skins.
14 Blankets, all much used & some
very bad.
1 large pewter soup dish.
2 ditto Plates & a small bason.
1 Brass Candlestick.
1 good & 1 bad strawbed.
1 Iron pot & 1 frying Pan. Bad.
1 Knife, Hatchet & Spoon.
1 Rack for Arms & 2 cloth biers for
the Sick.
13.
1 Soldiers Table.
4 bed steads with & 3 without bot-
toms.
1 Rack, 2 benches & a Kettle.
5 bad chairs, 1 Iron Pot, 1 Bucket
2 Shelves for bread, & a small tub-
14.
6 Bedsteads & 5 straw beds.
1 Kettle, one Table, 2 benches & 1
Rack.
2 buckets & 2 Iron Potts.
15 Bake House.
3 large Tables for the bread.
1 small do with a Drawer.
2 Kettles with Covers.
1 Stopper for the Oven.
2 Iron Potts.
1 small Brass do.
8 bad blankets to cover the bread.
10 cloth covers for do.
1 Iron to draw the bread.
2 Cloth bags.
2 buckets, 1 Tub, 1 pair of Scales
with weights.
2 Rollers, 2 Prickers.
1 Seive, 5 Tables, & 7 chairs.
16.
1 Bedstead & bench.
1 Large & small Press.
17 Guard Room.
1 Guard Bed, 1 Rack & Table, 1
Bench,
1 Bucket & a Brass Cup.
18 Officers Guard room.
1 Table & Arm chair.
19 Prison.
1 Bed Stead, 1 straw bed & a Table.
2l6
Inventory of the Goods in Fort Chartres — Concluded.
Artillery Stores.
No. of Cannon.
1 6 pounder
3 4 do
1 3 do
1 2 do
1 11/2 do
5 Swivels.
4 Wheels.
4 Files.
4 Coins.
4 Linstocks
1 lb.
Powder 255 50 damaged
Ball 619
Bar lead 298 per measure
lb.
143 in Iron
122% in Lead
N. B. Most of these articles tho' mentioned good were originally of a very
bad quality.
Omitted. *
One Brass pair of Scales for Powder Room. 1 Bell and a Large writing
table.
32 platforms & 482 plank.
(Signed) St. Ange Le Febvre.
Thos. Stirling,
J. RuMSEY, D Commissary.
Je Sotissigne Certifie avoir donne a Monsieur Sterlin generolement
tontes les Munitions de Guerre, qu' ils se sont trouve dons le Ford
D'Chartres, et pays Illinois le jour de la prise de possession aux Illinois
ce 10 O bu 1765.
(Signe) Le Febvre.
Indorsed.
Inventory of Stores and Utensils delivered to Captain Thomas Stirl-
ing of His Majesty's 42d Regiment by the French Commissary at Fort
Chartres.
Sterling to Gage, December 15, 1765.
Extract of a letter from Captain Sterling of His Majesty's 42nd
Regt. of Foot to His Excellency, Major General, Honorable Thos.
Gage, Commander-in-Chief in North America.*
"Mons" St. Ange withdrew on the 23 with all the French Troops
in this Country to a Village called St. Louis on the Spanish side, op-
posite to Caho, having Orders to that purpose from Monsr. Aubrey,
he had no Soldiers in any of the Posts except this, a reduced Officer
acted as Commandant at Caskaskias, and another at Caho, they have
both left this side likewise/'
yPublic Record Office, America and West Indies, Vol. 122.
217
"The only Judges here was one LeFevre who was Judge, King's
Commissary, and Garde du Magazin, and another who acted as Pro-
cureur du Roi ;* All Causes were tried before them, and their Sentence
confirmed or revised by the Council at N. Orleans, in case of appeal,
the Commandant decided all small disputes, yet every complaint was
addressed to him, and he ordered the Judge to try them ; Those Two
are gone to the Spanish side being continued in their employments
there. I was therefore obliged to appoint one Mr. La Grange to de-
cide all disputes that might arise amongst the Inhabitants. According
to the Laws and Customs of the Country, with liberty to Appeal to
me, in case they were not satisfied with his decision; I first consulted
the principal of them, if he was agreeable to them which they all told
me he was, however if I may take the Liberty to give my Opinion, it
will be necessary that Judges be sent here to administer Justice, as
Mr. La Grange knowledge of the Law is not sufficient to fill that
employment as it ought to be. The Captains of Militia have the same
power as in Canada. The Inhabitants Complain very much for want
of Priests, there is but one now remains, the rest either having died or
gone away, and he stays on the other side, he was formerly a Jesuit
and would have been sent away likewise if the Caskaskias Indians, to
whom he was Priest, had not insisted on his staying which the French
allowed him to do upon his renouncing Jesuitism, and turning Sulpitien,
this Priest might be of great use to us, if he was brought over to this
side, which I make no doubt might be effectuated, provided his former
appointments were allowed him, which were 600 Livres pr Ann ; from
the King as Priest to the Indians."
I am not able to get an exact account of the number of the Inhabi-
tants as there is always a number of them at N. Orleans, trading with
the Indians or Hunting which they go to as regularly as the Savages,
the Village of Caskaskias has about Fifty Familys and at Caho about
Forty, those of Prairie du Rocher, Fort Chartres, and St. Philip are
almost totally abandoned ; This Settlement has been declining since
the Commencement of the War, and when it was ceded to us, many
Familys went away for fear of the English, and want of Troops to
protect them from the Indians ; they have formed a settlement since
the Peace opposite to Caho called St. Louis where there is now about
fifty Familys, and they have another opposite to Caskaskias, which
has been settled Thirty years ago. Called St. Genevieve about the
same number of Familys, to these two Places they have retired ; Mr.
Neon who commanded before Mr. St. Ange was very active in entic-
ing the Inhabitants of this side, to go over to the other, I wrote your
Excellency that few or none had given in their names to go away
which made me hope they intended staying, but I have found since
that, that was only a blind, for many of them drove off their Cattle in
the night & carried off their Effects & grain which I did everything in
my power to prevent, but as I was not in Condition to send parcv's to
the two Ferry's of Caho & Caskaskias, considering the disposition of
the Indians, a good deal of cattle & some grain has been c^irried oft".
*This was Joseph Labuxiere. See Illinois Historical Collections, II, 625, n. 16.
2l8
and if the gentlest methods are not used with those that stay, who are
the best, we shall lose them too; There will be a necessity of building
a Fort at Caskaskias, the former one being ruinous, ill situated and no
water, and likewise one at Caho, as these are the places opposite to the
Spanish Settlements, and where the Ferrys are, besides in all prob-
ability, the Mississippi will carry away this Fort bv the month of
June, it is at Caskaskias where they raise all the Grain for supplying
the Troops; the Country is very level and clear of woods, with the
finest Meadow I ever saw, in which we have advantage over the Span-
iards, who have not room enough to form one good Settlement on the
banks of the Mississippi, but they have the advantage of the Salt
Springs & Lead Mines with which this Colony is supplied, on their
side, none of those has yet been found out here" —
*T have enquired into the affair of the Jesuits, and find that they
were dispossest and their Estates and Goods sold by an Order from
the Council at N. Orleans, for the behoof of the King their Houses,
Lands and goods here, were sold for a hundred & some odd thousand
Livres, besides about Fifty Negros that were sent down to Orleans,
and there sold ; they carried away the Papers of sale so that T could
not get an exact account, but so far I have learned from the person
who was employed in the sale I have likewise learned that a Priest at
Caho named Forget who was of the Mission Etranger of the Sulpitien,
who was the only remaining in the Country, did sell since the Peace
all the effects of that Order in this Country to the amount of about
thirty thousand Livres with the consent of the then Governor who
was Mr. Neon tho' several Inhabitants objected against it, and or-
dered it to be remitted to the Superior in France. He likewise gave
three Negros their liberty.* As I did not know what your Excel-
lency's Sentiments might be, I ordered the person who bought them
to make no further payments, till your Orders should arrive, he hav-
ing agreed to remit annually so much till the whole should be paid."
"I have not been able to find that the French King had any posses-
sions in this Country except the Ground the Forts stand on, as no
lands were ever bought from the Indians, who claim the whole as
their property; As to their numbers, the Caskaskias Indians, who live
within half a League of that Village, are about a Hundred & fifty
Worriors ; the Metchis & Peory as live one mile from this Fort, the
former having forty the latter about two Hundred and fifty Warriors ;
The Caho's are about Forty likewise, — These Indians I am informed
intend all going to the other side to live; The Caskaskias Indians told
me in a Council they held before Mr. St. Ange, and me that, that was
their intention, the French Emissarys have spared no pains to de-
bauch the Indians & Inhabitants to leave us & a report they have
spread that all the French Officers, are to be continued by the Span-
iards & the Government of the other side to be entirely French, has
contributed not a little to it" —
*See Illinois Historical Collections, II, 499-509; Thwaites Jesuit Relations, LXXI, 37.
219
(Indorsed.)
Extract of a Letter from Captain Stirling to His Excellcy General Gage.
Dated Illinois 15th December 1765.
In Major Genl Gage's of the 28th March 1766.
Containing Particulars with regard to the Settlements on the opposite
Shore.
Inclosure 2 in No. 10.
Memorial of the Illinois French to General Gage.*
A Sou Excellence Thos. Gage, Gouverneur General de rAmerique
Septemtrionale, Colonel du Vingt deuxieme Regiment, Amiral du
Pavillion Bleu.
Monsieur, —
Mr. Sterling vous aura sans doute appris qu'il a pris possession de
ce Pais sans ancume Difficulte, et nous pouvous hardiment avancer,
que si ceux qui out tenti de le faire avant lui, s'y etaient pris de meme,
ils auraient infailliblement reussi, et par la nous auraient evite les
horreurs de la Disette dans la quelle nous nous sommes trouves ; ce
qui joint aux horreurs d'une Guerre que nous avous aussi seniles a
porte le plus grand Decouragement dans ce Pais, et nous a empeche
de pouvoir prendre aucun arrangement definite, principalment ceux
d'entre nous, qui peuvent etre dans le cas de passer dans la Partie
Francaise on Espagnole. Nous avons en I'houneur de faire, a cette
Occasion, nos justes Representations a Mr. Sterling, Delai de neuf
Mois, pour attendre que les Commercans Anglais etaut arrivas, et
la Confiance reablie avec le Commerce, ceux d'entre nous qui voudrout
quitter, puissent titer Partio de leurs Biens fonds et Maisons Comme
il na pas cru pouvoir prendre sur lui d'accorder que jusqu an Mois de
Mars proclaim, il nous a promis d'appuyer aupres de Votre Excellence
la justice de notre, Cause, a insi que I'lmpossibilite de rien vendre dans
le Moment present. L'entiere Confiance que nous avons en Sa Parole,
nous borne a remettre seulement sous vos veux, que Personne n'a pu
prendre des arrangements anterieurs a I'arriver des Troupes Anglaises
dans ce Pais, que nous etions tous les jours prets I'abandonner, par les
Violences des Savages enhardis par Notre petit Nombre. Votre Pene-
tration vous fera Connaitre qu'ils sout encore dans ITmpossibilitie
d'en prendre ancuns, puisqu'il n'ya ni Monde pour acheter, ni Argent;
ce que nous fait vous prier, Monsieur, qu'il plaise a Votre Excellence
accorder a ceux d'entre nous qui vondraient se retirer, un delar de
Neuf Mois, a Compter de ce Jour; ce dout nous vous repondous, ils
conserverout une eternelle Reconnaissance, ainsi que nous repondous
de la Fidelite re ceux qui demenreuont sous la Domination de S. M. B.
♦Public Record office, America and West Indies, Vol. 122. Transcript also in the Bancroft
Collection, Lenox Library.
220
qui vous cupplient voulior leur envoyer des Pretes Romains du Canada,
et tous d'un Comman Accord, avons, I'Houneur de nous dire avec
Respect.
De Votre Excellence
Monsieur
Les tres Humbles
& tres obeissans
Serviteurs.
Les Habitans des Illinois. Rocheblau.*
La Grange, Gavobert, Plasi. Du Lude. Chaseville. Carra. H. Braz-
aux, Gaudoiiin. J. Batiste Beauvais. Bloiiin. Sessier d'et la Vigne.
Mere Pilette. Batiste Myot, Jacques Billerout, Hubert Liu Ru. De
Girado. Aubuchon fils. Calamanderie. J. M. Mercier. Lonne Le Janis.
La Chaussee. J. La Lource. Fr. Ricard.
(Indorsed.)
Memorial of the Inhabitants in the Illinois.
In Majr Genl Gage's, of the 16th Janry 1766, praying a delay of nine months
for the removing their effects.
Inclosure 4 in No. 3.
TRANSLATION.
To His Excellency Thomas Gage, Governor General of North Amer-
ica, Colonel of the TzventySecond Regiment of the blue -Hag?
Sir — Mr. Stirling has doubtless informed you that he has taken pos-
session of this country without. any difficulty, and we can boldly ad-
vance the opinion that, if those who attempted to do it before him, had
gone about it in the same way, they would have succeeded without
chance of failure; and thereby we should have escaped the horrors of
privation, which we have experienced. This, joined to the horrors of
a war which we have also felt, has brought the greatest discourage-
ment into this country, and has prevented us from being able to make
any definitive arrangement, particularly those of us who might be able
to pass to the French or Spanish side. We have had the honor of
making, on this account, our just representations to Mr. Stirling for a
delay of nine months in order to wait until the English Merchants have
arrived, and so that when confidence in commerce is reestablished,
those of us who wish to leave, can get a profit from this land and
houses. Since he did not believe that he could assume the responsibility
of granting longer than until the month of next March, he has prom-
ised to uphold the justice of our cause to Your Excellency and point
out the impossibility of selling anything at the present moment. The
entire confidence we have in his word limits us to bringing to your no-
tice only that no person has been able to make any arrangements pre-
vious to the arrival of the English troops into this country, which we
were ready to abandon any day on account of the acts of violence com-
mitted by the savages who were emboldened by our small number.
*Names are transcribed as in the copy in the public record office. These are all in the same
handwriting.
221
Your penetration will make you understand that they are still without
the Means of making any preparations, since there is neither anyone
to buy nor money. This causes us to pray, sir, that Your Excellency
will be pleased to accord those of us, who wish to withdraw, a delay
of nine months counting from this day. We will be accountable to you
for this that they will preserve an eternal gratitude, and we will also
be responsible for the fidelity of those who will remain under the domi-
nation of His Britannic Majesty, and these latter pray you to send
them Roman priests from Canada ; and all with common accord have
the honor of calling ourselves with respect for Your Excellency, sir,
the very humble and very obedient servants, the Inhabitants of Illinois.
[Signatures and endorsements above.]
222
LETTERS TO GUSTAV KOERNER, 1837-1863.
Of the German-American leaders in Illinois politics none deserves
more general recognition than Gustav Koerner. Coming to Illinois in
1833 ^s ^ result of the revolutionary uprising in Frankfort, he never
lost his affection for his fatherland. Yet he was equally loyal in the
service of his adopted country. He insisted always that it was the duty
of the German-American to work with his neighbors for the promo-
tion of sound ideals in politics and higher standards of civilization. This
attitude won him the respect of the community in which he lived and
he held a series of important public appointments. He was succes-
sively a member of the legislature, judge of the State Supreme Court,
lieutenant governor, and United States minister to Spain.
During his long public career he gained a wide acquaintance among
the public men of his time in Illinois and elsewhere. He was an active
correspondent and left to his family an interesting collection of letters,
some in English and some in German, written by many of his most
prominent contemporaries. Through the courtesy of his daughters,
Mrs. R. E. Rombauer of St. Louis and Mrs. Henry Engelmann of
Lakewood, Ohio, I have been able to present for the annual volume of
the transactions a few of the letters written to Koerner in English. The
copies were carefully prepared for this purpose by his grand-daughter.
Miss Bertha E. Rombauer, of St. Louis.
Brief accounts of Koerner's life may be found in Ratterman, Gustav
Koerner, Ein Lebensbild ; in the Illinois Historical Society's Trans-
actions, 1904 (article by R. E. Rombauer) ; in Deutsch-Amerikanische
Geschichtsblatter, April, 1907, (article by E. B. Greene) ; also in
Koerner's Deutsche Element, Chicago, 1884. Koerner's autobiography,
which contains much matter of great interest, still remains unpublished.
EvARTS B. Greene.
City of Washington, 29th August, 1837.
Dear Sir
I reached here on day before yesterday evening and found
your letter for which I am much obliged to you, there have
arrived about forty or fifty members,. Mr. Polk the former Speaker
and Mr. Bell are here, both wish to be elected — the contest will be a
close one, but I believe Mr. Polk will succeed, there is no certainty
about. what we are convened for, the impression prevails that no other
business will be taken up but merely providing means to defray the
223
expenses of the Government until the money in the deposit banks can
be reached by some permanent measures adopted by the general se-
sion, should this view be correct Congress will probably not sit more
than six weeks and adjourn until the general session.
On the subject of the sale of land to Mr. Hilgard I am perfectly
willing to sell the quantity and in the manner that he wishes it and
have written by this mail to General Semple to call and see you and
make the bargain. I will send a deed as soon as the land is surveyed
and I can have a description.
I am much astonished at John Eckart, but a few days before I left
home he called at my house, and asked me if I would as soon rescind
the contract I made with him for the land. I told him I would, he
said he would rather and he would pay me what he owed me, but
had not the money with him, I told him that would make no odds
another time would do as well, I am willing now and at all times to
perform my contract if he wishes it, and pay him the moment he makes
a title, but he is certainly a very strange man, he most unqualifiedly
rescinded the contract with me, please tell to him I am ready to per-
form when he gives title to the land the deed from C is not good
as you will perceive by reading it.
Please sell Mr. Martin the lot he wishes at $3 per acre, interest 12
per cent until paid, if he can pay one-third down I should prefer it, but
sell to him at the price even should he pay none down, but pay in-
terest.
I have this moment called on to see* Blow & Rives the editors of the
Globe, send me two numbers of the German Paper, I will enclose one
to the editor of the Pennsylvanian and will convey one to the Globe
office & effect if possible the exchange.
There are here for me upwards of forty letters, most of them on
subjects connected with my representative duties and it will occupy
all this week to attend to them, I will try and write you frequently and
fully, and in the meantime you will always confer a favor by writing
me often.
My health is somewhat impaired, I have some hopes it will gradually
get better, I assure you from the business pouring in on me it is much
needed.
May you enjoy health and all the blessings of life is the fervent wish
of your sincere friend.
A. W. Snyder.
Washington City, Sept. 25, 1837.
Dear Sir — I received yours of the i6th enclosing the certificate of
Jno. Hous which I will send to the office of the Secretary of State on
tomorrow and so soon as it is prepared I will send it to Mr. Hous.
I am much delighted to hear of your success at the bar, may it al-
ways attend you, is my sincere wish. You did not tell me what was
done with my attachment case (at Kaskaskia) against Dr. Hogg, will
vou please inform me in your next. I wish also you would promote
♦Probably Blair and Rives.
224
the petition of the people of Tamaroa for a post office at that place and
please see that the State road is opened, through the bottom across the
Kaskaskia river. I received a letter from Rittenhouse who says Tam-
aroa is getting along very well, that Shutz & Thompson are doing very
well with the steam saw mill. I regret much that Gen. Semple did not
make a contract with Mr. Hilgard, it is desirable such a man as him
should be interested in the place.
Jno. Braun's draft was protested and I had to pay it here. Will you
please to learn whether he is in that part of the country, if so whether
he intends to take the land he purchased, he having failed to meet his
purchase, I suppose he does or cannot comply, if so I should be glad
to know it. What course is the editor of the Representative going to
pursue?? Is the press under the control of Jno. Reynolds?? Is it not
the avowed object to promote the political prospects of Reynolds either
to advance his claims to congress or to the Gubernatorial chair?? Will
you ascertain. Has Fleming recommenced printing or can he, is it
worth while to aid him, or would it be better to buy up the Represen-
tative, if it can be bought.*
The bill proposing to withhold the fourth installment from the states
is still under discussion. I am of the opinion it cannot pass.
The bill to authorize lo million of treasury warrants will pass, a reso-
lution is before the house declaring it inexpedient to charter a bank
of the U. States. I shall vote for it. I never will unless instructed
vote for a bank of the United States, at least [word covered by seal,
probably such] a Bank as the former was.
I begin to doubt whether we shall adjourn at all before the General
session commences. My health is not as good as it has been. I have
been enabled by a most desperate effort of self control to discontinue
the use of tobacco for the last two weeks.
What are the charges made against Mr. Mitchell, does he still neglect
the office, is it badly attended to? If so, how ?
My regards to all our friends.
A. W. Snyder.
City of Washington,
Oct. i8th, 1837.
Dear Sir
Yours of the 7th inst I received today. Am pleased to hear you and
your family are well. My own health is as usual, middling. We ad-
journed on yesterday about 10 o'clock. The subtreasury scheme was
laid on the table by a vote of 120 to 107. I voted in the majority be-
lieving it better that some expression should be obtained from the
people and if it is to be adopted no injury can result from its suspen-
sion until December. I do not like to believe that it will ever be
adopted, time however will prove all, was it in the power of Congress
to restrain Banking in the States the policy of the measure would be
♦Some personal remarks relating to another individual are here omitted by request of the
family.
GUSTAVUS KOERNER.
/
:*-;,/> , ^fi
^A^
225
apparent, so long as that is the case, it would be attended with difficult
and unpleasant circumstances, the Government exacting one kind of
money while the people would be constrained to use another, in Illinois
where the Government received much money but never disburses any
the effect would be injurious. You know I do not like Banking or
Banks, true we are in the midst of the evil, the true course is to apply
gentle and restorative remedys.
The passage of the bill extending time to merchants, postponing
the fourth installment to the states, giving time to the deposit banks
to pay together with the issuing of lo millions of Treasury warrants
has already caused business to increase its activity.
I am glad that my course pleased my friends, you know my inde-
pendence of thinking, and although I may have differed in some votes
with the administration rest assured my aim is to give it a fair full and
firm support throughout. All my feelings, all my hopes and all my
desires are concentrated in these democratic principles that I was
taught from infancy, but there is a time that we should pause before
we take hold of party extremes.
You have I suppose seen announced the appointment of General
Semple as charge des affaires to Bogota in New Granada, I do not
know whether he will accept or not he was not an applicant. I found
the ofiice was vacant and concluded to ask for it for some friend, the
idea struck me it would suit Semple. The delegation from my state all
united and he was confirmed without a dissenting vote in the Senate.
You may rest assured that it is a matter of pride to me to have suc-
ceeded & whether Semple accepts or not it must be a source of grati-
fication to him and his friends.
I do not believe that a convention can be got up at Kaskaskia. The
truth is that the people composing my congressional district have never
been used to that mode of bringing out candidates, it will not take,
none but northern & eastern politicians pursue that course, for myself
I have no doubt of its correctness, it is indeed the only mode by which
you can test party strength. If my health continues to improve I
would probably desire reelection if it does not I would decline it. I
can only determine that during the winter.
I will learn who is a proper person for you to communicate with in
relation to the claim of land for Doctor Bunsen's heir. There were
here during the session Mr. Hunt the minister & Mr. a mem-
ber of the Texian Congress, they will both be here in December. Sup-
pose you write a letter of inquiry leaving the address blank and enclose
it in an envelope to me, I will address it, and send you the reply, do
this fearful that I may forget it.
The account you give of Tamaroa is very flattering. I have no
doubt but that it must succeed. The petition for a post office is ad-
dressed to the Post Master General, inclose it to me, it will require
but a few signatures. Suppose you have Million named in it, he was
the first that went there is an honest man, and of our side in politicks,
do as you choose however about it I only suggest that, the Route is
already established and will soon be contracted for. The object is to
-15 H S
226
have an office established at Tamaroa to insure it a point in the route
from Belleville to Kaskaskia via of Preston which is about 12 or 14
miles south of Tamaroa on the east side of the Kaskaskia river,
Mr. Jno. Scott of Carlyle is now here and I was no little gratified to
learn from him the people of his county were pleased with the manner
in which you managed your law cases. I need not tell you that I take
a deep interest in your success.
Congress adjourned yesterday I have been 'melancholy and despon-
dent since every member almost leaving to see his family and his
friends but myself, I on yesterday evening formed the desperate reso-
lution of going to Illinois and starting today, but some fever last night
and an increase of pain in my breast this morning brought me to my
senses, and reconciles me better to my fate, in a few days I shall take a
short tour of 8 or 10 days duration & then spend my time in the Library
of Congress, which is a very splendid collection of books, I frequently
think of you how you would enjoy it, had you leisure to continue in
it, do not wait always to write me, only when you receive a letter from
me, I am frequently so hurried that I cannot write you as often as I
would wish, and it would gratify me to hear from -you more frequently.
Your sincere friend,
A. W. Snyder.
Boston, Massachusetts,
Oct 26th 1837
Dear Sir
You will be surprised at learning that I am at this place in so ad-
vanced season of the fall, the truth is I well know that a more southern
latitude would best suit my health, but an irresistible curiosity to visit
New England caused me to take this trip. I landed at Providence in
Rhode Island from there went to Worcester in a stage passing along
the Valley of the Blackstone through one of the most interesting manu-
facturing districts of New England in one day I passed through nine-
teen manufacturing villages containing from one to two thousand
inhabitants each, employing a capital of two hundred million of dollars,
in cotton & woolen in each of these villages the tall church spire and
the school house form conspicuous objects, the houses all painted and
beautiful — neatly enclosed — on the whole forming a picture of neatness
and comfort which probably cannot be equalled in any country.
You have no idea how much I am pleased with my visit. I have
examined the intelligent labor saving machinery their untiring in-
dustry, their uniform happiness and comfort, it has done much to dis-
pel the prejudices which I have heretofore indulged toward my Yankee
countrymen.
Should the weather continue good I shall continue my tour through
all New England. No man ought to attempt to legislate for all this
republic unless he know all her interests, he cannot do this without
personally seeing it.
227
I assure you notwithstanding all the peculiarities of this people all
the ridicule exercised against them, I am proud to call myself their
countryman.
• Have you seen Bulwer's last work Maltravers it is dedicated to
your countrymen the Germans, I have just read it, am not much pleased
with it, — went last night to see Forrest the great American tragedian
perform. Was much pleased, have seen Miss Clifford in Bianca and
Miss Free in the Duchess de La VaUiere a play written by Bulwer.
They are all fine actors. Tomorrow I go to Lowell — the Leeds of
America, next day to Nahant to see the sea. Today I shall visit the
common schools, museum and lunatic asylum.
I hope to have the pleasure of finding on my return a letter from
you as well as from my family. I think of returning to Washington
in ten or twelve days. Please give my respects to Mr. Shields.
Your sincere friend,
A. W. Snyder.
Washington City, No. 13th, 1837.
Dear Sir
Your two letters of the loth Oct and ist Nov came to hand on yester-
day two days after my return to this place from my trip to the north,
and now for the business part first. Weirheim's deed is made out and
signed and acknowledged, I must have by mistake left it in my private
papers if you or Mr. Hay has not got it, the note of Wood and Co.
given me by Rapier for Collection I certainly intended to hand you if
I have not done so it is likewise with my private papers, and if in-
sisted on you will examine my desk for the purpose. Rapier has got
the amount, and the transfer of my receipt will be sufficient unless
they wish to bring suit, in that event I suppose they must have it, my
note to Isabella Lynn you will please pay out of my individual funds
when collected, & for that purpose you will receive of Mr. Dawson
on the enclosed $60.00 money that I have advanced to his brother at
this place to enable him to move to Illinois, the other ten and interest
please pay out of same collection, the reason why I say my individual
funds, I wrote Semple that he could take what was collected in your
hands. — of our Tamaroa Funds, please pay over to him all you may
collect should he desire it. — I would very willingly have Mr. Hilgard
interested in Tamaroa and for that purpose will sell one hundred and
fifty acres at $8 per acre, 75 to be taken on the west and 75 on the
south part adjoining the town time to pay with interest on the money,
I feel certain I ofifer him a Bargain, Land will continue to rise in our
County in my opinion, I have had B. Millim appointed P. M. at Tama-
roa, the mail will be carried from Belleville to Kaskaskia via Tamaroa
I presume, on ist January Robt Morrison contractor, on the subject
of the enquiries you make for Jos Beer I have answered him in a letter
of yesterday — ^fin des affaires — aliens pour le politique.
You seem to communicate to me, your objection to my course with
hesitation — acquainted as I am with your sincerity of heart, and true
228
friendship for me, you certainly know me well enough to believe that
any difference of political views could not in the sHghtest degree affect
my friendship for you, the very sincerity with which you speak about
it is an additional reason for my regard, and makes me more solicitous
to retain your esteem — you do me but justice when you say I am sin-
cere in the course I have adopted and conscientious, fear not that I
have left my party or forsaken my principles, all my hopes all my
fears and all my sympathies, are with the democratic party, they were
principles imbibed' by me in my infancy they have strengthened with
my years and for the very short time destined for me to live I feel
no disposition to change them, as well might you expect to hear of
my taking poison as to hear of my embracing the principles advocated
and avowed by the Leaders of the opposition. I do not know that I
can in this letter explain to you the whole of the reasons which ac-
tuated me in my votes, should I fail to do so in this letter I shall either
in speaking in my place should my health permit, or in another letter
to you give all of them — suffice I voted against the issuing of Treas-
ury notes because it was averred by many of my political friends in
congress the object was to lay the basis of a treasury Bank, for which
you know I have always expressed the utmost repugnance, the danger-
ous tendency of such an institution I need not point out — when I saw
the party would carry the measure I voted for the interest on them in
order to' sustain their credit & that of the Government, I could not go
with the party in the measure yet I threw as little impediment in their
way as possible — I was willing to give it a fair trial, the circulation of
them so far has not disappointed me, they are under par notwithstand-
ing their bearing interest, for it is idle to say anything is at par that
will not command gold or silver at its face, the vote for postponing
the fourth installment to my state I could not make and represent the
wishes & interests of my constituents, as you must know, our party
had used every shift and device to apply the surplus revenue to forti-
fications on the seaboard rather than distribute it to the states immense
sums were lavished on the seaboard to the most useless and extravagant
objects, our State' that like Egypt was to the Romans, collected for
her public Lands millions had nothing disbursed in it, the money of her
citizens was taken and applied in the Atlantic States towards objects
useless in themselves & unworthy the patronage and attention of the
Government, the state upon the expectation of its share had antici-
pated the sum by its Legislation, the disappointment would work con-
fusion and injury to our system of internal improvement, there was in
the Bank of Shawneetown & in the hands of the receivers of public
monies in Illinois more than our quota of the amount, all the states
were willing to take the amount due them in debts due from the
Banks to the Government, there was no good reason that I could per-
ceive why this was refused, for you perceive we postpone to the States
first then issue treasury warrants then give time to the Banks.
I come now to the subtreasury bill, my vote upon which is the one
that startles my friends, I had prepared in a speech to give my reasons
for my vote, but owing to my bad health was prevented, you saw my
vote on the Resolution declaring it inexpedient to charter a Bank of
229
the United States, I thought I perceived very plainly by the passage
of that bill that it would insure the immediate creation of one, the
States have built up local institutions for good or for evil, they exert
their influence on the community I too well know, but when I was
called upon to decide upon institutions of the States or one of the
United vStates my mind was soon made up — I thought by aiding the
State Banks to resume specie payment, the country would be relieved
and the reform of banking monopolies and abuses should take place
where it had its origin with the people. I thought I saw in the coming
contest, a struggle between money and the Liberties of the people,
and need I add that I feared by adopting the system of cutting loose
at one abrupt move, the revenues of the government from all paper,
that we were hastening the catastrophe — I was for adopting moderate
measures to sustain my party in power, to get through this crisis, to
enable us to adopt such measures as the most sanguine democrats
could have wished, need I add that my worst fears are realized— by
attempting to correct abruptly the evil we have increased its malignity.
That kind of revulsion in politics has taken place that I fear is to
end in the prostration of our party and in the consummation of that very
measure that I, that you & all of our friends deprecate— flushed as the
opposition now are with success. I have no doubt that many
of the states will instruct their senators and that the opposition
whenever it has the power, will urge on us this winter a plan
to charter a Bank of the U States, and that we will again have to
fight the battles over by laying the bill on the table time would be
given to see its effects upon the people — to learn their feelings in re-
gard to it — the Local Legislatures in the mean time would convene in
most of the states & give to their representatives such instructions as
the people desired, for myself I wanted none — but I felt anxious for
my party for the principles I had long professed, I am now better
satisfied than ever my course was right had the majority of the party
here thought with me, we might have pursued such measures as in the
end would have attained the object. I fear now that some years must
roll round before we can succeed, the people must be yet more and more
ridden, the Tyranny and influence of monied incorporations must be
increased — these then will wake up to a proper sense of their peril and
danger of losing their rights. The Jackson party in 1835 on a bill in-
troduced by Bordon of Virginia proposing to disconnect the Govern-
ment from all paper and Banks, immediately voted it down not a soli-
tary friend of the administration voting for the measure, the increased
power and patronage that the appointment and erection of so many
receivers of Revenue would give was by the democratic party thought
dangerous to liberty. I thought so to, what has now sanctified it?
Principles should ever be the same. When my party recommended
state banks I was then a member of the Legislature of my state; it
was urged on me, that it was a party measure, I refused to give my
assent to it, and again differed with the party, you may have noticed
my votes in the bill proposing time to the Banks and releasing them
from interest for their debts to the Government.
28 Nov. 1837 — I voted against it. No man would go further to
coerce them to hold their contracts inviolate than myself — as late as
230
July long- after the suspension of all the Banks in the union the monies
in the hands of the receivers of public monies in Illinois was deposited
in the Bank of Missouri at a time that it could not have had in circu-
lation one hundred dollars of its own paper, thus building up another
state institution by the Government but a few days preceding the meet-
ing- of Congress, I mention all these things to you, for I would not
wish them public — for the credit of my party — my course in relation
to banks has been steady, it has never changed — would that my party
had been equally so. — I shall give to the administration a uniform
sound support in all measures that a sense of duty to myself and my
constituents will permit me.
You seem to regret the appointment of Gen. Semple so far as it pre-
vented the people from naming him for Governor, and testing the Bank-
ing principle. I urged his appointment because first he desired an ap-
pointment by the Government which I thought did not suit & be-
cause he expressed to me a willingness to rest from before the people,
he did not apply for this office but for another, all this you are aware
is conildential. I hope to hear from you frequently & will on some
other occasion write you more fully.
Your sincere friend
A. W. Snyder.
December 13th 1837
W. City
My Dear Sir:
I received your very interesting letter a few days since as also the
maps you had the goodness to send me for which I thank you. I should
have written you sooner but I have been franking and addressing the
president's message. I had a good many printed on my own account
in order that they might be circulated throughout my whole district — ■
it is an excellent paper must suit the views of the people of our state,
it seems to me that it must meet with General approbation in all the
States that have public domain in their territories.
He has again urged the propriety of the separation of the Govern-
ment from the Local Incorporations of the States, firmly but mildly,
the Message is such as to bring all our friends together. A compro-
mise will take place which will meet the views of the democratic party
in Congress, the administration is not as strong in the house as it was
many of the New York members will not support the measure under
any circumstances, the result of the New York Elections has confirmed
them in their opposition to the measure. There is however some gain
in South Carolina as you will perceive by the papers. The Virginia
members who voted to lay the bill on the table Mr. Garland Patton &
others will I think now come on to the compromise so that the strength
in the whole will be enough by a small majority to carry the measure,
as modified.
You say you were tempted almost to speak of the contents of my let-
ter I am glad you did not, from the unreserved manner I communicate
with you it would not always be prudent. I have been cautioned
231
against writing too frankly my views to you I knew it came from a
political enemy and gave it that weight which it doubtless merited. I
mention this to show you the pains that is sometimes taken to disturb
the relations existing between men.
I have not yet seen the memorial. I mean the signatures. The copy
I see in the Gazette, there is certainly nothing in it exceptionable, it is
clear and undisguised. It will not be necessary. I think when all my
votes shall be taken together there will not be much real cause of com-
plaint, I think none by the democratic party, and they I am desirous of
pleasing.
Reynolds speech as chairman of the meeting is a curiosity it is iion
committal and non Such, however I notice the Vandalia paper at the
same time praising him as a warm advocate of the subtreasury scheme,
and stated that it spoke advisedly. A part of it belongs to Reynolds,
the editor Walters was foreman in Gales & Seeton's office here and
was taken to Illinois by Reynolds & Dement, the latter you know was
opposition candidate for speaker against. Semple. You have doubtless
by this time made a Governor. I suppose that Carlin will be nomi-
nated, be him whom he may I wish him success & hope he will beat
Edwards, the opposition candidate.
How does poor Fleming do, I perceive that his refulgent sheet is
again visible. Two presses in Belleville, I hope Fleming has appeared
this time " M eliorihus auspiciis" how would it do to assist him — the
other press is evidently vmder the influence of Reynolds & is bound to
oppose me, I remarked in it a dirty extract from the" Vandalia paper
censuring me for not coming home in the recess and seeing my con-
stituents. Do you know I thought it unkind that such a paragraph
should appear unanswered when it was known that bodily infirmity
alone prevented me from seeing my family and friends. I can bear
censure of my political course but I cannot bear to be charged with a
want of respect and attention to my duty, or devotion to my constit-
uents. The charge was unkind and unfeeling, all who know me know
my devotion to my family and friends, know how it would gratify me
to see them, more particularly under the circumstances that I left them.
If God lets me live to get back to Illinois I shall be strongly tempted
to punish the offender.
We shall certainly be able to procure the passage of a preemption
law and I think be able to reduce the price of the refuse [? ] Land a[ll ?]
such at least as has been in market a long time.
I am sorry to hear that the practice of the law is so dull at this time.
I hope it will be better soon, it seems you are about having a branch
of the State Bank of Illinois at Belleville. Who are to be its officers.
I suppose that Mitchell will be cashier who president old man Harrison
or Kinney.
I hope you will write me frequently, I am always happy to hear
from you. I am with esteem your sincere friend and well wisher
A. W. Snyder.
232
Dear Sir
On my return from a tour in the country I have the gratification to
receive a letter from you having date June 20 containing a suggestion
in relation to the distribution of the 'Messenger of Liberty' among
the German population in Fayette & Effingham counties. I thank you
most kindly for the suggestion. It shall be immediately attended to.
I will forward the names of some of the most prominent Germans in
Effingham. Several numbers are now taken in this place, and as you
say its effects are most miraculous.
I am never sanguine in my calculations of election results, but, un-
less some unlocked for revolution in the public mind, should in the
mean time, take place, you may certainly calculate on the election of
the entire democratic ticket in this District^Senator & all. Shelby
will give a majority for V. B. of, at least 650. Bond will secure her
representation in the House of Reps. Montgomery will stand as now.
Contrary to all expectation, it is confidently asserted that Coles will
elect Democrats. Clark will, almost certainly, do likewise. Both,
heretofore, have sent Whigs.
I do conscientiously believe that the Democratic vote of Illinois will
be increased — without reference to the increased population — at least
20 per ct. in the approaching presidential election.
The Springfield humbug has wrought, & is working wonders. I
would not have stopped it, if I could have done it.
Thanking you. most kindly for your note, I am Dr Sir
Yrs Most truly
W. L. D. EwiNG.
July 8, 1840.
Camp at San Juan de Buena Vista, near Saltillo, Mexico, Jan'y
20, 1847.
Friend Koerner —
I have no doubt that you are generally kept pretty well appraised of
our whereabouts and our doings; and I cannot therefore, in a brief
letter, communicate anything of particular interest to you of which you
have not already been advised. But as I am presented today with an
opportunity of sending to New Orleans, I avail myself of the chance
thus offered of starting a letter towards you — that it will reach its des-
tination is by no means certain; nor will it be very material to you
whether it does or not.
We are now encamped near Saltillo (4 miles from the town) and
here, or in this vicinity, we have constantly been encamped since some
days before Christmas. Besides Gen. Wool's Division there are also
here two Indiana Regiments and one Kentucky Regiment — this last
R'g't having arrived here two days ago by a forced march from Mon-
terey to sustain us in an anticipated engagement with the enemy. We
left Parras (a town of 8 or 10,000 inhabitants and situated about 130
miles West of this place) on the 17th of December, and came here by
a forced, and, for Infantry, an extraordinary march. We had ex-
233
pected to remain at Parros till about the ist Instant, and then to take
up our march for San Luis Potosi by the way of Durango and Zacate-
cas — and so we should probably have done but for an express which
reached us on the 17th ult from Gen. Worth, then at this place, calling
upon us to come with all speed to his relief, as he had but 1,000 men
and was in hourly expectation of an attack from a large body of the
enemy. This interesting despatch from Gen. Worth was the cause of
our sudden departure from Parros and our rapid march to this place.
We reached here in less than four days from the time of getting Gen.
Worth's despatch ; but we have as yet had no battle nor do we now
believe that we shall have one at this place. The enemy that was mak-
ing toward Gen. Worth changed his direction South Eastwardly with-
out coming to Saltillo — and although there are several detachments of
the enemy within from 60 to 100 miles of us, and which seem to be in a
constant state of mobility, yet they do not seem inclined to give us bat-
tle here, nor permit us to lessen the distance between them and us by
any movements of ours. Almost ever since our arrival here, however,
we have literally "dwelt in the midst of alarms" — often expecting at
night that we should see the enemy the next morning — and at morning
expecting his approach before night. You must remember that we
have to rely in a great measure upon our Mexican spies for informa-
tion. Sometimes they have no doubt deceived us intentionally. Some-
times they have mistaken small detachments of scouts or foragers near
us for the advance of the enemy. For several days, and indeed, until
yesterday we kept ourselves in a constant state of readiness, night and
day. For several nights I slept, when I slept at all, with my garments
all on even to my boots and spurs. Yesterday's information, however,
and today's, seems to show pretty conclusively that the enemy which had
made a demonstration here are moving off Southwardly intending to
fall back upon San Luis Potosi, or perhaps to the coast to oppose
Gen. Scott, who it is understood here is about to invade their country
at Tampico or Vera Cruz or somewhere else in that quarter. As to
our future movements we are in profound ignorance. Whether we
shall be ordered to Vera Cruz or in that direction — whether we shall
be compelled to remain here by way of occupation (which God forbid),
or whether we shall go toward San Luis Potosi, we know not. We ex-
pect Gen. Taylor here in 3 or 4 days. And we rather suspect that
when he comes we shall pretty soon receive orders to advance towards
San Luis by the way of Durango and Zacatecas. In that case we shall
retrace our steps to Parras. From that place to Durango is about 180
miles — from Durango to Zacatecas about 200; and from this last to
San Luis about 80 miles. (Distance of places here is but estimated —
accuracy is not attainable). It is known that at Durango and at
Zacatecas preparations are being made to resist us. This is all we
know or can even conjecture, plausibly, in regard to our future move-
ments. Nothing can be more uncertain than all our movements — so
that if they turn out entirely different from what I have suggested you
need not be surprised.
234
The health of my regiment and of this whole command is good.
Deaths, however, must and do occur among us occasionally. I do not
at present think of anybody who has died here whom you would prob-
ably remember to have known.
The Illinois Volunteers are high in estimation here ; and deservedly
so. You would be surprised at their improvement and their present
soldierly appearance. In the most trying and discouraging situations
they have ever shown themselves to be everything which men could be.
They have suffered much from hard marches and hard fare — but they
have endured patiently and with the fortitude which becomes brave
men and soldiers. They have never felt so well as when they have been
in hourly expectation of meeting the enemy in deadly conflict — nor
have they ever behaved more like men and soldiers than on such occas-
ions.
Of the probable continuance of the war we can form no opinion, what-
ever. We are in total ignorance of everything passing at Washington,
and especially so of the doings at Mexico. It is only four or five days
since the President's message first made its appearance among us._ This
will show you how effectually we are cut off from all sources of infor-
mation from the States.
Mexico, so far as we have seen it, is by no means an inviting country.
High, bare, and rugged mountains, and dry, and (consequently) bar-
ren plains, constitute the leading features of the country everywhere.
Not a foot of land is attempted to be cultivated which is not suscepti-
ble of irrigation. No rain has fallen since we entered Mexico, and we
are told that none is expected, here, till May or June. Even those
mountain streams which are the only sources of that fertilizing process,
irrigation, are much fewer and smaller here than you would expect in
so mountainous a country. As for timber, there is none in the country.
You would be wholly at a loss to conceive how a country so completely
destitute of timber could be inhabited. And yet the poor devils man-
age to get along in happy ignorance of their many, and, to us, manifest
wants.
The climate is delightful in Mexico. We are now in Latitude 26 — ■
about the same as the Southern part of Florida. Occasionally the wind
shifts suddenly into the N. E. producing what is called a Norther. At
such times it is frequently, for a day, uncomfortably cold and we
shiver and our teeth chatter at night and morning. With these trifling
exceptions, the weather is uniformly delicious. From ten in the morn-
ing till 3 in the evening we seek the shade for comfort — and the nights
are as cloudless, as genial and balmy as they are in Illinois in the
month of May.
The Mexicans hereabouts are indolent and unintellectual. They
know, generally, nothing about their government or the affairs of their
country — nor do they care about either so that they are let alone. I
speak, of course, of the mass. Santa Anna is disliked exceedingly in
this part of the country.
All your friends here are getting along pretty well. Adolphus has
sustained himself well, and honorably ; and stands as fair among us as
his friends could possibly desire. His health is excellent and he is at-
235
tentive and ambitious. Last night he had command of one of the
guards — and I as Field Officer of the day had to visit him after mid-
night. I found him constantly at his post, and holding a tight rein
over his men. He is entirely satisfied and delighted with his situation.
Col. Morrison is also in good health, and has, I think, fully realized
the expectations of his friends.
I trust that you have, ere this, been elected by the Legislature ; —
Though I have not heard a word from Springfield since the Legisla-
ture convened. Of your own election nobody can have entertained
any doubt — nor of P I presume. T. H. Campbell is doubtless
elected Auditor — I hope so at any rate. But who is treasurer? who
Atty Gen'l? Who my successor? Who Senator? &c &c. Our anxiety
to know these things amounts to nervousness. I have rec'd no letters
from Illinois since we left San Antonio. I there rec'd one from you
(the only one) which was answered from Monclova. I have not even
heard a word of my little girls (one of which I left at New Orleans)
for more than five months. It seems that letters addressed to us "Care
of Col. Hunt" via New Orleans, post paid, ought to reach us in safety
and yet we are constrained to think that many such must certainly have
been lost,
I fear I shall not be able to return so as to commence the circuit
with you in the Spring. I do, however, look with much pleasure to
the time when I shall again find myself among my friends upon the
circuit. It seems to me, now, that I shall hereafter delight more than
ever in the practice of my profession — and determined am I to devote
myself vigorously and exclusively to it when I return.
My health is excellent, I have not been sick since I left home, and
was never more robust than now ; and I have labored in my new voca-
tion with, I believe, tolerable success — the pertinacious and rather
unkind predictions of my friend Koerner to the contrary notwithstand-
ing. Captain Raith's company, with some exceptions, has evidently
felt it a duty to be blind to everything which did not quadrate with the
previously expressed opinions, and directly promote the interest, of their
exclusive and very attentive friend and former Captain. But let that
pass, and be forgotten. We all get along very pleasantly, and so we
shall continue to do. I should be glad to hear from you often. Should
you write me from Belleville, please make inquiries, and tell me about
the health of my little girl.
Gen Shields was with us at Monclova — but while there he was or-
dered to Tampico — and thither he went ; since which I have not heard
of him. He was very popular with all our officers and men. Write
to me
Goodbye
W. H. BiSSELL.
Judge Koerxer.
Springfield i8 Feby 1847
Dear Sir
I am glad to say : that the H of R* has done you and others justice.
The vote to lay an amendment on the table to a Bill of Appropria-
236
tion was 47 for the table and 51 against it. The vote was again taken
on the passage of the clause of $1500 to all the Judges and it stood
thus 53 for and 43 agt it — passed.
This amendment only takes effect from its passage. It does not go
back. Our friend Mr. Underwood was sick ; and my other colleague
voted against it. Mr. U. was not present and so did not vote. I am
glad that the Legislature had the magnanimity to do justice to the
Judges.
The balance you will see in the papers, and I will tell you when I
have the pleasure to see you. Judge Denning had some capital.
Your friend
John Reynolds.
Judge Koerner
Judge Martin came in sick and voted.
PS I moved in the bill to strike out the names of all the Justices : so
that we forced members to join all in. Linder made a good speech.
I was short as it was that was best.
Washington Feb 19th 1847
My Dear Judge :
Your favor was duly reed and I have delayed answering it, hoping
I might be able to give you some definite intelligence in relation to the
prospect of accomplishing your wishes in regard to young Engelmann.
The President gives us only three companies out of the ten regiments
to be raised. He had lots of applications and I found I could do noth-
ing for him in organizing these Companies. A law will pass before
we adjourn I think, authorizing the President to retain as many of the
Volunteers now in the Service, as may wish to continue during the war.
In this organization I think I can provide for Engelmann I will do all
in my power to procure for him the post you name. We have had a
noisy, boisterous Session & will leave a great deal of business unfin-
ished. Will probably levy a War duty on Tea & Coffee &c & as a
revenue measure, reduce the price of the public Lands. My labors have
been such as to preclude me from writing my friends. When I see you
I will give you a history of matters and things in general. I am in
haste
Truly your friend & obt. Servt.
Robert Smith.
Hon. G. Koerner.
Camp at Buena Vista, Mex., April 25, 1847.
Friend Koerner. —
Our mail is just closing and I have but a few moments in which to
write. I have just returned from town (our camp is 5 miles distant
from it) where I went expressly to see Adolphus. He was severely
wounded and has suffered severely in consequence. Indeed, he has
237
suffered a dozen deaths — but he is greatly improved within the last
week. There is not the least doubt of his recovery — nor is there any
reason to fear the loss of his arm, the joints of which he can move
quite freely even now. He is much reduced, but he is in fine spirits,
has a good appetite and is gaining strength every day.
We expect to start about 4 weeks from this time for home — but you
need hardly expect to see us till the loth or 15th July. We shall have
no more fighting here. Adolphus will be able to accompany us home —
and you may rest assured that I shall not come without him. He
acted nobly upon the battle field. Col. Morrison has left us for home.
He first went to Monterey for the benefit of the warm springs there
(having the rheumatism) from thence he started for home as we have
just learned. He got leave of absence from Gen. Taylor at Monterey.
He will tell you the news.
This makes the 4th letter I have written you from Mexico — two of
which were very long ones — and I have never received a line from you
since leaving the U. States. Adolphus tells me that you say you have
written to me. I have never got your letter. Wish I had. For I am
as ignorant of everything which has transpired in 111. as if I had been
in the moon all this time. I have written several times to Mr. Kinney
— and if he has taken the trouble to answer any of my letters, I am
ignorant of it. I will not judge harshly, however, for I well know the
difficulty and uncertainty of all communication between us. You can-
not imagine how I long to be on the circuit.
Errors etc. etc. must be overlooked for I have been allowed but about
one minute to write this scrawl.
Your friend
W. H. BiSSELL.
Judge Koerner,
Belleville.
Rock Springs, III. May 28th 1847.
Hon. G. Koerner, Dear Sir, I have been requested by the Commit-
tee of the Literary & Historical Society of Illinois to correspond with
you with the view of ascertaining if your official & other duties will
permit you to deliver the Annual Address to the Society on its anni-
versary, the fourth Thursday (22d) July at Upper Alton. It is the
unanimous desire not only of the Committee, but of many members
of the Society who have opportunity of consultation.
The Committee desire to leave to your choice & convenience the
special topic, but we take the liberty respectfully to suggest that a
discourse on some topic allied to German character, intellect or history
would be very acceptable. Every fact & illustration that tends to re-
move prejudice, and furnish each class with more exact knowledge
of each other's character, habits, modes of thought and history, will
tend to cultivate brotherhood, good feelings and nationality.
Please give me an answer, (encouraging I hope) soon as conven-
ient.
Yours respectfully
J. M. Peck, Cor. Secy.
238
Springfield June i8, 1847
Dear Sir:
Yesterday the convention settled by large majorities two important
questions — one to authorize the Legislature to impose a capitation
tax, the other laying a resolution providing for the insertion of a pro-
hibitory clause in the constitution against Banks by a vote of 102 for
to 59 agst.
You will see the vote in the paper which I send you. I am inclined
to think that the Judges of the Supreme Court will be appointed by the
Gov. the Circuit Judges elected by the people. Legislators reduced
to 100 and the pay about $3.00
A thousand and one propositions have been introduced as amend-
ments to the constitution.
The committees have commenced reporting. The Executive Com-
mittee reported this morning when it is printed I will send you one.
I am gratified to hear that Adolphus has got home, my best respects
to him. Let me hear from you. Bunsen gets along well, & is highly
respected by the members for his sound sense, and his manners are so
original that he is quite popular.
Your fd
W. C. Kinney
Rock Springs Illinois, June 28th 1847
Hon. G. Koernfr, Dear Sir, I have been solicited to preach in the
Baptist Church, Belleville, since the resignation of Mr. Boyerkin &
have consented to preach there at least next Sabbath, fourth of July,
at eleven o'clock A. M. & 3 o'clock P. M. My subject will be appro-
priate to the day — Liberty, personal, political aud religious. . On the
last item Baptists have differed essentially in their views, from most
Christian Sects. I shall expound what I conceive to be the correct
theory of Christianity on this point. Should you have no engagement,
I should be gratified at your attendance.
Yours respectfully
J. M. Peck.
Carlyle Nov. 7, 1847
My Dear Judge
I had the pleasure to receive this morning your letter enclosing
Chittenden's note & am obliged to you for your kind regrets that I
could not be with you at the Court. Be assured that nothing would
give me more pleasure & I had made all my calculations to that end, but
as it was. I was too unwell to move out. I have not been well since
the 1 2th of last August.
I am much pleased to hear that the counties you named are still
friendly to me — they were strong for me before. I so hope I shall
have no opposition from my political friends. I do not think there will
be any verv formidable tmless it mav be Nile? & I should think he
239
would not be a candidate against me. I trust you and other good
friends will look to the matter in McClain & Monroe. I depend on
you for this. I hope you will write me often during the coming ses-
sion. I shall take great pleasure in receiving and replying to your
letters.
Have been in a week. I have sent the note of Chittenden to Sena-
tor Phelps of Vermont from whom I reed it.
Faithfully yrs
Hon. Judge Koerner.
S. Breese
St. Louis Aug. 4th 185 1
Dear Sir
I tried to see you yesterday. On calling at the house they told me
you were in the town and on coming there I could not find you. I
have been desirous of getting the second volume of "Dix Ans." The
style is good, the spirit sprightly, but it is terribly French. What a
conceit ! The Restoration a continuation of the Constituent Assembly.
The rule of the Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie is held chargable with
the evils and errors of Louis 18, Charles 10, and Louis Philippe. This
is the hypothesis. Upon this the work is constructed. It is puerile.
Such a man to pretend to be a statesman. To commence by classify-
ing men into Aristocracy, Bourgeoisie and people — and then to deal
with them on the strength of this classification. Do get me some
French work that has breadth as well as depth. I am getting very
tired of the conceits and fancies of French writers. The election is
proceeding. The Free Soil ticket it is said will be beat. Every thing
is quiet, I go down the river and may not see you for a week or ten
days. I enclose what I hope will answer your purpose for a pass. It
is in the form of a letter of credit, you can draw upon me in favor of
the man from whom you buy the pass.
Yours
Hon. G. Koerxer Jas. Shields
Belleville
111.
New York, Aug. 13, 1851.
Dear Judge :
I have been here some five or six days. Shall be required to remain
here three or four days longer — then go to Washington — all on busi-
ness of the R. R. Co. — so that it will be about the 20th before I can
start for home. I am very anxious to return as speedily as possible;
and I trust I shall be there as early as the 26th inst. After I left home,
and before my arrival here the R. R. Co. had sent for me to come on
here — so that my departure from home was opportune.
I was nearly two days in Chicago, Douglas was absent — so was
Peck, and nearly every body else. They are very much divided there
on the question of a candidate for Gov. Mattison has his friends, as
240
well as some enemies there. I staid but a part of one night at Spring-
field — conversed with Calhoun and Treat. They are opposed to Mat-
tison. Whether that circumstance is to be regarded as indicative of a
prevalent sentiment round about the capitol, you can judge as well as
I, I did not anywhere let my own preferences be known.
You would be acceptable everywhere, so far as I can judge, as a
candidate for Lieut— and so I hope it may turn out.
Douglas has been pushed too fast, just exactly as we anticipated. I
wish he were back right where he was six months ago. It would
then be much easier to nominate him. There is already a regularly
organized opposition to him ; and with some men it is even bitter. The
danger just now is from Buchanan's friends. If the free-soilers of
this state will strike for Douglas at the right time, they can secure his
nomination and his election and there is no other party or set of men
in the Union can do the same. I am on good and intimate terms with
Dix, John Van and others of the Eve. Post. And I think I shall
have the satisfaction of effecting some good for Douglas in that
quarter before the convention sits. I cannot help but remark however
that his ridiculous R. R. letter, all uncalled for and unnecessary, and
designed solely to increase his importance iii Chicago has injured him
here in the estimation of every one who has taken the trouble to read
his letter — I should rather say his stump speech for it is nothing else ;
and hardly creditable to his intellect even at that. He must give up
meddling in little petty local matters if he wants to be considered a
sufficiently large man for President. He ought to be above grocery
stump speeches now.
If you meet my little girls tell them you have heard from me.
Yours ever
W. H. BiSSELL
Hon. G. Koerner.
JoLiET, Nov. 5th 185 1.
Judge Koerner
Dear Sir,
I take the liberty to address you, relative to political matters, in our
state, and shall do so freely.
In regard to the Presidency, I presume all are for Douglas through-
out the state ; and from present indications, he will certainly be the
nominee of the democratic party, of course will be elected.
I desire your views upon the subject of Governor, and Lieut. Gov-
ernor. In this section of the state, we are all for Mattison of this
place for Governor. We think the North is entitled to the nominee,
and Mattison is our preference. He is a decided, and thorough going
democrat, and will make an efficient and energetic executive. We hope
that St. Clair will be for him in convention.
I have heard your name mentioned in connection with the nomina-
tion for Lieut. Governor, and so far as I am informed, your nomina-
tion would meet the hearty approbation of the democracy of the north.
If you desire the nomination, my services are at your command, and I
241
think I am warranted in saying, that the democracy of this county and
vicinity, will give you their cheerful support.
Col. Bliss wrote to me not long since, and suggested your name in
connection with the nomination, and in reply I informed him, that your
claim would receive a favorable consideration. Write to me, and write
fully on all subjects.
From present indications I fear the Bank bill has been adopted by
the people. The northern counties appear to have gone for the bill.
Let me hear from you, and excuse this brief epistle.
Your friend
J. McROBERTS
Washington Dec. ist 185 1
Dear Koerner
This is the day which opens the great national debating club. Sena-
tors and members are nearly all here. Boyd Ky nominated Speaker.
Forney of the Penn'a Clerk — there may be some trouble in the elec-
tion but I think not. The attempt to make the Compromize the basis
of the Democratic creed failed as it ought. The movement was Foote's
who is here. He is always in some fidget about great movements and
never doing any good. Kossuth will receive a national reception.
Foote means to introduce a resolution into the Senate today for that
purpose. Foote says the Whigs will make capital out of Kossuth un-
less the Democrats make a great display. This is the feeling here.
Kossuth is valued by Filmore Webster Foote and such for the amount
of political capital he brings. I have just got an invitation to the din-
ner to Kossuth at New York. I think I will go. Genl Scott will be
the Whig can'te and God knows who the Dem. The bank has paper
and we will be able I fear to borrow no money — so much for State
management.
Yours
Jas. Shields.
Hon. Gust. Koerner
JoLiET Dec. 6th 185 1.
Hon. G. p. Koerner
Dear Sir
Your favor of the 23d has been duly received, and its contents care-
fully read. I admire the candor with which you write, & the zeal mani-
fested for the cause of democracy.
I fully concur with you in the opinion, that the adoption of the Bank
Law, will have quite an influence in controlling the action of leading
democrats, in different Sections of the State. But I trust it will create
no disaffection in our ranks, when it is apparent from the vote in the
aggregate, that not half of the strength of our party was brought out
—16 H S
242
against it. Its adoption at the present crisis is to be regretted ; but as
it is now fastened upon us, one must endeavor to get along with it, and
correct the evil at the earliest period.
I infer from the tenor of your letter, that some apprehensions are
entertained in your section, as to Col. Mattison's feelings and views
on the Bank question. It is true that he voted for the passage of the
bill in the Senate; but like many other Democratic members of both
houses, he did so by special instruction of his constituents. At
the polls, however, Col. Mattison voted against the Bill, and so did all
his particular friends in this vicinity. This I vouch for, as I know
the fact; and this town was the only one in the county that gave a
majority against the bill.
In this northern part of the state, the party was about equally di-
vided, for and against the bill. Some of our leading Democrats in this
Section, have their own peculiar views on the subject of Banks; and
deny that the question is at all involved in the political faith of the
party. Such being the Sentiment of many who have an extensive
influence, it is not strange, that the bill received a strong support.
You know that abolitionism, freesoilism, and other fooHsh issues have
been made in this northern region in our party ; & which have so
obliterated many of the ancient land marks, of the party, that any
political result in districts which were formerly, and are still demo-
cratic, is now at times quite uncertain.
When the democracy of Southern Illinois fully understand Col.
Mattison's position, they will find him right on all questions of State,
and party policy. He was among the few, in this part of the State,
who during the free soil excitement, stood firm and unmoved, and who
assisted in meeting and successfully turning back the tide of fanati-
cism which for a time threatened to engulf all before it. At the last
session he would have voted against the Blank Bill, had he not been
directly instructed by a large majority of the democrats of his dis-
trict to go for it. This was the case with other sterling democrats,
such as Reddick Randal and others from the north. Owing to the
diversity of opinion among the democrats of the Northern Counties,
Mattison has pursued a mild course, as it would not have been policy
for him to take an active part on questions about which scores of his
friends differed essentially. In this I think he was right, especially
when an active part either way would affect his prospects for the
nomination. If he is the democratic candidate, he desires to be free,
at least during the canvass, from the censure of any part of the demo-
cratic party. He is the choice of the north, and we desire the South to
unite with us, in giving him a warm support. He has at all times
labored to keep down any feeling of jealousy between the northern
and southern parts of the State ; and because of his conciliatory course,
many in the north have charged him with fraternizing with the South,
and being opposed to the north.
On the subject of Lieut. Gov. the friends of Col. Mattison will I
have no doubt support you cheerfully, should you consent to place
your name before the convention. If the Governor is taken from the
north, the Lieut. Gov. should come from the South.
243
Remember me to Niles, Kinney, Gov. Reynolds, Judge Underwood,
Abend, Fouk and others. Let me hear from you when you are at
leisure.
Your friend,
J. McROBERTS.
Wilmington, No. Ca., June 14, 1856.
Sir.
Although not personally acquainted with you I have known your
name in honorable connection with events which transpired over 20
years ago and from this indirect acquaintance I claim the right of ad-
dressing you.
As an adopted citizen of this country I ever looked upon you with
pride; I looked upon you as a true exponent of the adopted citizens
true and faithful to their country her constitution & her laws.
So much the more I was surprised to find the annexed lines which
I cut out of the organ of the Know Nothing faction in this city. They
were inserted in the same' undoubtedly with the object of suspicioning
the devotion of the adopted citizens residing in this city to this country,
and thus make political capital with every true patriot and particularly
with every Southerner be he a Democrat, Whig, Know-Nothing or
anything else.
Being convinced what means these Know-Nothing Organizations
sometimes employ to reach their object and having had many oppor-
tunities to see the liberty of the press soiled by publishing falsehoods
and lies, I felt compelled to doubt the veracity of the statement made
concerning you and therefore herewith take the liberty to ask yourself
whether I am right to disbelieve the assertion made (viz: in the an-
nexed scrip) or whether you recognize the right of the people to make
their laws to suit them & exclude or introduce slavery from their
territory.
Hoping that I was right in doubting the veracity of the assertion
made in our K. N. organ and that your views on the Kansas & Ne-
braska Bill are in conformity with the resolutions passed thereon at
the late National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati I shall consider
it a great favor to receive information from you to that effect and your
permission to publish the same if circumstances during our local can-
vass should require it.
With my best wishes for yourself I remain
Your obt. servt.
GusTAVus Isaac.
Hon. Lieut. Gov.
GuSTAVUS KOERNER.
244
Rock Island. III.. October -^d, i8e;6.
Hon. G. Koerner
Dear Sir
A mass meeting of the Republicans of Rock Island and surrounding
counties is to be holden at this city on Thursday the i6th inst, and
from assurances already received a very tull attendance may be relied
upon.
The undersigned have been appointed a committee to procure
speakers for that occasion, and as such they desire not only to extend
to vou our invitation to be present as one of the speakers but also to
communicate to you the very general desire that exists among our
citizens that you should speak to them upon the questions of the day.
It is their desire to hear from yourself and some others of the dis-
tinguished citizens of our own state, upon whose counsels they have
been accustomed to rely, and in whose lead they have been proud to
follow. We trust that you may find it convenient to gratify your friends
here in their wish to meet with you on the i6th. Will you do us the
favor to communicate to Col. Bissell our cordial invitation that he
should be present, and to press upon him its acceptance. His presence
here will do very great good, as well as gladden the hearts of thou-
sands of his friends. Please let us hear from you at your earliest con-
venience, and believe us Dr Sir
Very truly your friends
George Mixter,
George W. Pleasants,
Quincy McNeil,
Committee.
For Heavens sake Governor dont disappoint us. We are to have a
great time, & to its greatness your are bound to contribute.
Not only have you many very warm personal friends here among
the Yankees, but there are many most excellent Germans voters in our
city & in Davenport, who will be greviously disappointed if they fail
of having you and Fred Hecker on the i6th. Make Hecker come.
The glorious work goes bravely on. It is the Lord's work & will,
& all hell, with Dug. thrown in cant stop it.
I have been on the stump elsewhere for many weeks, and now have
a right to claim the best help here.
Dont fail to answer, nor to make that answer YES.
Ever & most truly your friend
Jos. Knox.
ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
State At Large.
N. B. Judd. Chicago Chairman Ebenezer Peck, Chicago
Wm. H. Brown, Chicago, Treasurer Julian S. Rumsey, Chicago
Gustavus Koeiner, Belleville
245
Difstricts.
1 Cornelius Lansing, Marengo 5 Wm. A. Grimshaw, Pittsfield
2 Calvin Truesdale, Rock Island 6 M. H. Cassell, Jacksonville
3 David Davis, Bloomington 7 T. A. Marshall, Charleston
4 Chas. B. Lawrence, Prairie City 8 Willard C. Flagg, Moro
9 John T. Jones, Shawneetown
Horace White, Chicago.
Secretary.
Committee Rooms
151 Randolph St., Chicago, Nov. 24, i860.
Hon. G. Koerner, Belleville, 111.
Dear Sir:
Will you please fill up the enclosed blank with the returns of St.
Clair Co by precincts; or, if the vote of the county has been published
in this form in your local paper, will you please cut it out and send it
to Mr. Judd. We are making up the vote of the entire state by pre-
cincts for future use. We have received the vote of Monroe County
in this form.
While we regarded your Senatorial District the safest in the State
of the five doubtful ones before the election, it is the general opinion
now, in view of the enormous increase of the Democratic vote in the
Southern counties, & the abominable frauds perpertrated by them in
the river precincts, that you made a remarkably good fight. "It's all
well that ends well," and I'm sure the Democracy of Illinois feel a
thousand times worse, in view of the general result, than any of us can.
Very respectfully &c
Horace White,
Secretary.
Bellemlle, III., May 4th, 1863.
Hon. G. Koerner,
Dear Sir,
I was pleased to receive your favor of 23 March. The letter to my
brother I forwarded to Springfield where he has been for some four
weeks. His two youngest children have been very sick — are now com-
mencing to get better. Our troubles are being too prolonged. I pre-
sume you find your position more embarrassing and unpleasant that
it would be in a time of peace. We have not obtained such decided
victories as I had hoped, we would have done before this. The news
we are now getting from Gen. Hooker's army is very encouraging.
I should think the rebels at Vicksburg would find it difficult to get
supplies. I regret that Lincoln did not change his cabinet. The ac-
tions of our people in this country have undergone I think but little
change since you left. But few of the American Democrats are to be
relied upon when it comes to the matter of voting. I think the Ger-
man Democrats, who are for the Union, aie more to be relied upon.
The prejudice of some people seems much stronger than their love of
country. The result of our city elections was very gratifying.
246
Jehu Baker has been engaged for months in getting up a speech
which he has dehvered at Springfield, Bloomington & Belleville, and
has just had it printed. It is a good speech. Judge Underwood is
still making speeches at Nashville, Chester, &c with a little Union and
a good deal of the Copperhead. He has not undertaken to make a
Union speech here since his return from Springfield. I think all Union
men lost confidence in him last winter.
Considerable property has changed hands lately Gen. B. Short sold
his farm at $50 per acre and has moved to Macon County. John
Ruddock has sold his place and bought in Macon County. J. Miller
sold his 100 acres near West Belleville for $10,000. The Thomson
Coal Mines 80 acres were sold the other day for $16,000. Robt. G.
Afflick has sold his farm for $15,000. Money is plenty. As to law
business, it has fallen off one half — Your old cases have been mostly
disposed of. The Reichert cases will be tried next winter. We beat
Baker in them last fall. The Breiner case, owing to the death of Mrs.
B. has not yet come on for trial. Judge Underwood assisted me in
the G case but we lost it. I never had as much confidence in
the case as you had. Baker has not yet got ready to take up the V
case. It only involves a matter of costs. In a few of the old cases of
partition, the parties neglect to attend to them and they remain on the
docket. I did not hear as much complaint of Judge Gillespie at the
last term of court. J. B. Underwood is not improving any in his
habits, the temptations at Springfield are too great for him.
Col. Jarrot was in town a few days ago, looking as well as ever. I
am glad the St. John suit is settled. I did not succeed in getting Gil-
lespie to make a decision on the exceptions to the answer of Miss St.
John. Should be pleased to hear from you often.
Truly yours
G. Trumbull.
247
LETTERS FROM OGLE AND CARROL COUNTIES, 1838-1857.
Copies of these letters are printed in the Transactions through the
courtesy of Mr. J. W. CHnton of Polo, who contributed the following
explanatory note :
The following letters written from Ogle and Carroll counties be-
tween 1838 and 1857 came into the possession of the Polo Historical
Society in January, 1905. The letters were written to David Ports,
a cooper, who resided at the time in Washington county, Maryland.
The letters were preserved by him and brought to Carroll county many
years later. At his death they fell into the hands of his son, Otho J.
Ports, now a resident of Hazelhurst, Illinois. From him they passed
into the possession of the Polo Historical Society as stated above.
The letters throw considerable light on the modes of travel from the
east to the west as well as the conditions of the country seventy years
ago. In those days there were three routes of travel from New York
state, Pennsylvania and Maryland to Northern Illinois: By boat on
the Great Lakes to Chicago ; by wagon trains across the intervening
states of Ohio and Indiana, and by steam boat from Pittsburg down
the Ohio, up the Mississippi and then up the Illinois to Peoria or Peru
and thence overland or up the Mississippi to Fulton or Savanna and
thence across country to eastern Carroll or Ogle counties.
The first settlement made in Ogle county was made at Buflfalo Grove,
near Polo, between Christmas, 1829 and early in January, 1830, by
Isaac Chambers, a Virginian, who came to the country by way of
Springfield and Peoria, and John Ankney, a Pennsylvanian, who prob-
ably came by the Ohio and Mississippi to Galena.
Samuel Reed and Oliver W. Kellogg from New York state probably
came overland. Kellogg came to Illinois in the twenties and before
settling in Ogle county had lived for a short period in Galena and at
Kellogg's Grove in Stephenson county. Reed had followed his father
west stopping on the way in Ohio a year or more. Both Reed and
Kellogg arrived at Bufifalo Grove in April, 1831, and might perhaps
be said to be the first permanent settlers in Buffalo Grove, as Ankney
moved to Elkhom Grove after the Black Hawk war of 1832 and Kel-
logg bought Chambers' claim in April 1831.
In those pioneer days in the Rock River Valley letters played an
important part in the settlement of the country and no doubt such
letters as Smith's and Wallace's brought many settlers from Maryland
and New York to Ogle county.
248
To illustrate: Samuel Reed, Sr., came from New York to Peoria
county in the twenties. His son, Samuel, came to his place in the
early spring of 183 1 and thence north to Ogle and Carroll counties in
search of a better and healthier location. Buffalo Grove seemed to
offer all that he demanded. He was soon followed by a brother-in-
law, Cyranus Sanford and he by his sons, all from Delaware county.
New York. In '34 and '35 others from Delaware county followed. In
1835 John Waterbury and Solomon Shaver came from the same county
to view the country and the next year they with a company of sixty-
nine others, all from Delaware county, came to Buffalo Grove as
settlers. In the settlement of Mt. Morris, about the same course of
events occurred. In the summer of 1836 Samuel M. Hitt and Na-
thaniel Swingley, from Washington Co., Maryland, arrived in Ogle
county at what is now Mt. Morris. They were pleased with the
country and in the autumn returned home and the next year the Mary-
land colony landed at Mt. Morris. In subsequent years the communi-
cations thus established brought many setllers from Delaware Co.,
New York, and from Washington county, Maryland. So true is this
that today the Marylanders and their descendants are far more numer-
ous in Ogle and Carroll counties than the settlers from any other
single state.
The copies here printed were taken and compared with the originals
by Evangeline Holmes.
(Postmarked) Savanna, 111. (Postage) 25c.
May the 27th, 1838.
Mr. David Portz,
Boonsboro, Washington Co., Md.
Dear brother we now take up our pen to discharge a duty incumbant
on us so long which we would have done sooner, but we wished to get
settled before writing, so as to give as much information as possible
We shipped on bord the Paul Jones at Wheeling on the 5th of Aprile,
reshiped on bord the North Star at Cincinnati on the nth, and arived
hear on the 20th, all in a tollerable good state of health except the
diorhea which we all had except Henry who was mutch better all the
way on water than we had any reason to espect.
Father sent his horses on land the horse gave out on the road and
was left to die and the mare strade off after she arived heare ; he got
a comfortable frame house on landing at $10.00 per month and I have
got now a house at $4 per month. Father has bought a lot in town at
$50 with a good spring on it which will be not exceeding 20 feet from
his door, with the intention of following his business.
But the most meloncolly part of the story is yet untold. Henry
departed this life yesterday about 3 o'clock P. M. in one of his old
spells which he had hundreds of time but it was evident that the Good
proividence determend that this should be his last, from the fact that all
means which was in our power to use for his recovery prooved inafec-
tual. During the whole of the journey he was well and stood the
249
journey as well as any of us ; about ten days after we arrived here he
was taken sick though not as bad to all appearance as he was many
times before, he bore his affliction with unuseual patience, never
freted about his former home or absent friends, and died without a
struggle or a grone. We can safely say that he sufered for nothing
eather food or medicine, calculated to sustain life or cure disease which
prooved to us more forseable than ever that when death comes it defiles
all human means.
Its but justice to say that our neibuers ware as kinde and rendered
all the assistance that they could. The affliction is great but we try,
and we wish you to try to be reconciled from the consideration that he
has exchanged a state of suffering for a state of rest. Thanks be to
the God of heaven that we are all in the posesion of good health except
Mother is poorly in consequence of waiting on a young woman who
died today about 8 o'clock A. M. with the small pox. No other case
is known as yet in town.
Our town is a flurishing little village the most easterly bend on the
great Mississippi with a good landing for steam boats, two State roads
running through it one from Galena to Chicago and the other from
this place to Peoria on the Ills, river and a railroad laid out running
through the town from Galena 30 miles above us on fever river to
Chicago on Lake Michigan, 20 m above us are about being let out to
be compleated the current year which makes this place a very eligible
point for all kinds of business.
It is my desided opinion that if you would come here with a good set
of tools you might do a great deal better here than you ever can expect
to do in Md. we would all rejoice to see you and your family com-
fortably cituated here but I would not insist on your coming without
mature deliberation altho I am perfectly satesfied withe the prospects
of the town and country and the disposition of people.
Father is not satisfied with the cold climate which has been remark-
ably changeable some dales we have June heat and others as cold as
March.
All kinds of business are good good mechanik can get [almost]
any kind of price and the cash down.
I get from $2.00 to $2.50 for small jobs and 8.00 for a coat.
Mond. morning this morning I took (of) a coat for Mr. G. H.
Bowen the principle merchant of the place and one of the proprietors
of the town.
The last that father and you talked about has never come to per-
fection and probably never will. One year ago last fall there were
but 4 log caben and now there are about 35 the most of which are
genteel frames from i to 3 story high and 8 now under way lots in
town are selling at from $50 to 600 and I think its haserding but little
to sa that lots that could be bought for $150 now will bee worth
$1,000 in five years. Brother Wagner' and the company with him
have all landed safely.
Give our best respects to all our enquireing friends particularly unk
[uncle] W. McCoy. Write immediately on the reception of this and
give us all the information posible and state how the climate in Md.
since we left there.
2SO
No more at preasent but I remane your well wisher in hopes of
meeting both in this and in another world.
(Signed) J. H. Smith.
Savanna
Jo davies Co.
Ills.
(Postmarked) Elkhorn Grove, III., April i6,-39-
(Postage) 25c.
Mr. David Ports,
Boonsborough, Washington County,
Md.
Dear Brother, I once more take up my pen to give you some infor-
mation of our afairs and the far west to which we have straid. We
landed at Savanna with father the time I toled you in my last; he
landed with $500 and his mair, waggon, and harness which he soled for
$165 more making in all a capitol of $665 ; his 300 acres of land he in-
tended to get has dwindled down to about }i of an acre one of which
he proffered me but I declined accepting it thinking he would kneed
it himself if he lived to get olde. He built himself a log house on one
of his lots into which he moved the 7th. of July without a cent to bless
himself and to cap the monstrous climax he and mother ware maried
the 1st of Jan. last. You may ask me what I have done (who landed
with only one dollar in my pocket and $30.00 of olde debts on me)
Well I will tell you I began to work, and as I worked I lived in the
olde fashion way from hand to mouth at the following rates, flour
$10 per barrel, bacon 14 cts, per lb. beef 9 and mutton 7 and notwith-
standing we had four months sickness (dureing which time I was
doctor, nurse and cook) we still live to the preys of him whose tender
mercies are over all his works, and eat our own corn and pork In addi-
tion to that I have 35 acres of prararie as good as any man could wish
every foot of which can be cultivated without the annoyance of stump
or stone and 5 of timber and a good log caben all for $60 most of which
is paid.
I also have 10 lots in Elkhorn city* at 125 dollars on a credit of two
years to pay it in. We moved to this grove the 2 of Jan. Since that
time we have been in good health. Sarah Ann weighs 120 lbs. and I
183 sinse we came to this place we have done better than we ever
did in twice the time before. Respecting our country I am afraid to
say anything lest I should not be believed ; however I will venture an
expression of opinion. The prararies in the summer present one vast
natural garden of delights spreding before the aye sush a butiful and
varagated senery decked with flowers of evry shape, sise, and hugh,
that he that could not admire them must be destitute of a sence of
beauty and elegance.
*A paper city.
251
Levina has got 5 acres of timber and 5 of prararie for 30 dollars
and the prararie broke for her bed. She has lived with us all winter
within 4 weeks back when she went out for work for $2 per week.
F'ather and mother are well.
My claim lies adjoining Elkhorn city which may become a place
of considerable buisiness as the central railroad pases within i or 2
miles of us. We are still all well and perfectly satesfied with our
situation and prospects.
Inform me when if ever desire comeing to our country. I think
you could do well here for the cooper here charges 62 ^c for flour
and 2 dol for pork barrals, and all other work in proportion. If I
knew when you could get here I could have a house for you ; however
} ou shall not be houseless ; bring nothing but your bed and clothes
as for furnature we have no kneed of any.
If there are any persons coming to this part of the country this fall
try and procure me . as many locusts seed and chestnuts as possible ;
put them in a box and send them to me.
Give my respects to unkle Wm. McCoy and all our enquireing
friends. Remember Levina to Mrs. Hammond and tel her that she
has not written to her yet but has not forgot her promise ; she is wait-
ing to become more acquainted with the country so as to give all the
information possible when she does write.
No more at preasent but entertain as ever the best wishes for your
preasent and future happiness.
(Signed) J. H. Smith.
As soon as you get this letter answer it for I have been troubled for
a month back with dreams of your death.
(Signed) Sarah A. Smith.
P. S. We have mechanicks of most all kinds, people from every
state in the union and from most all parts of europ to give you some
idea of the number of inhabitants there is about 75 or 80 families in
our township of six miles square.
J. H. S.
Be shure to direct your letter
Elkhorn Grove P. O.,
Carroll Co., Ills.
(Postmarked) Buffalo Grove, III., Sept. 26-'39.
(Postage) 25c.
Mr, David Portz,
Boonsborough, Washington Co., Maryland.
Dear Brother. . I once more take up my pen to implore an answer
to the many letters I have written we can get no answer from eny per-
son that we have written to we believe the proverb that absent friends
are soon forgotten if you would wish to know, I can inform you, that
we are well and hope you are in the same ingoyment father has been
sick this summer but he is now well and continues to live in Savanna
which is a very sickly place, a title we can give to all the towns on the
252
Missipey I must now inform you what we are dooing We have raised
a hansome frame house in elkhorn City a new town which is laid out
betwen buflo and elkhorn groves we expect to finish one room to move
into this winter times are very hard here money is as scares as the
indians and they have left the state long ago we have fine crops here
wheat sells at 75 cents per bushel corn 37 oats 25 potatoes 37 and every
thing els acording we have all maner of wild fruit here but if ever you
come here bring me a good apple so I can look at it and if you posibley
can, bring me a shrub bush, plant it in a box and leave a little hole to
water it I am allmost out of news but must let you know Levina lives
with us she is in good sperits now but she had some trouble this spring
for por Pinkey was taken sick in may with the distemper /and died/
(poor pinkey)
but skip is alive and as cross as ever — enough concerning dogs. We
are dooing better here then -we ever could have done in the east we
have a good home a good cow a good lot of chickens and a plenty of
good things to eat and tolerable plenty of cold weather in the winter
but the heat in the summer is greater than it is in the east.
I want you to write as soon as you receive this letter and let me
know every thing that has transpired in Washington Co. within a year
past. Let us know something about uncle Patrick's famly give our
respects to uncle Macoy if he is yet living tell him we don't forget
him although there are many mountains between us. Our country is
not so healthy as it was cracked up to be there is a great deal of feaver
and ague along all the water courses which is the case in every country
espesuly in a new country but we have an excelent remeby to cure
the creature, caled Sapingtons antifever pills which will stop it in
thirty six hours let me know wheather any of our neighbours intend
coming out in the spring and wheather you intend to come along I
think you could not worse yourself for you will have a sisters house
to stay in untill you can suit yourself you will not have the difficultys
to indure that we had, being landed upon the maiden shores of the
missisipy without either friends or money amongst straingers in a
strange land but we soon found employment sufisient for our support.
I must now conclude by sending our best respects to you and Susan
and to all our acquaintances.
You need not be afraid Indians or of starveing the former have
left the State, and as respects the latter there is produce of all kinds
enough to supply the present population for two years no more at
present but we remain as ever your affectionate sisters and brother,
(Signed) Sarah A. Smith.
direct your letter to
Elkhorn Grove, Carroll Co., Ills.
253
(Postmarked) Elkhorn Grove, Illinois,
Dec. 24th, 1839.
(Postage) 25c.
Mr. David Ports,
Boonsborough, Washington Co., Md.
Dear Brother and Sister we are all tolerable well except bad
colds. In reference to your coming to our country I am of the opinion
that the cheapest way of coming wold be by water and the best time
is the spring as the water which you have to use is more healthy in the
spring than in the faul I would advise you to come next spring by all
means for the land is expected to come in the market next faul or the
spring following. Take a pasage at Wheeling for Fulton City as the
troble of reshipping and getting another boat may be great; land at
Fulton City leave your family and come here on foot a distance of 20
miles and we will get a waggon and team to bring your family and
frait. Another disadvantage attending comeing the faul is the low
water in. Be cautions of taking pasage on a boat in great reputation
for speed for they are more liable to meet with accidents than those
of less speed. Flour barrels are 50c. Lavinia sais she will let you have
as much timber as you can work up in one winter for a begining Pro-
duce of all kinds is low owing to the great abundance rased this year,
wheat is 75c. corn 20c and no demand the price of labor has not fell in
the same proportion labor of all kinds being in great demand but we
have suffered much here in consiquence of the pressure cash is very
scarce. When you get to Wheeling procure a supply of Sapingtons
antifever pills and follow the directions in case of an attack on your
journey. Get two bed pans if possible crockery if no other ^ lb cough
powder i box of streangthening plaster.
if you are in need of clothes get the stufif and get them made after
you get here get stuff for an overcoat of the stoutest you can get if
you need it also bring all your dishes for they are high here
In refferance to the climate here the cold would not be felt as much
as it is ware it not for the country being so open and the houses generly
open. We had frost the last night of August snow the 5th. of No-
vember 9th. it froze all day in the shade and on the 19th. hard freez-
ing commenced 23rd. snow december 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15th.
snow yet the weather has been moderate except 24 & 25 November
Notwithstanding the early frost there is little if any corn frosted.
Inform David Hammond that shortly after we landed at Savanna, we
saw William Snider with sister Catharine and her husband all of
whome ware on their way to Iowa terratory
Father and Mother ware well a few days ago when we heard though
he has been sick considerably this sumer and faul Give our respects to
Mrs. Kiplinger and tel her to send me some sort of her flower seed viz.
roses, May cent pink, procure a box of convenient sise to contain the
following roots viz. tame grapes, tame camomile, sweet brier, gesamine
rose, red & white currents, flowerry ammon, engraft into the roots the
old time early sweet apple, sweet pipen, yellow pipen, green pipen, the
paridice apple, the best pears, gipler apple, leave the upper end of
254
your box open so as to receive water occasionally on your journey
We built a chimney, laid a hearth, dobed the house, and dug a well
in six days if old Maryland can beat that send me word, tell Susan to
ask Mrs. Booth for a quilt pattern called tangle britches which she has
peised with pale blue calico replace a flat iron to old Mr. Stone wich
we took in a mistake and we will give you one when you come bring
Mulkyes sylabic spelling book and Kirkmuns gramer. Give our re-
spects to uncle McCoy and all who think us worth enquireing after.
Write as soon as you receive this and inform me how and when you
are comeing
No more at present but remain yours with love and esteem
(Signed) James H. Smith.
don't forget a shrub bush.
(Postmarked) Buffalo Grove, III.,
January 28th., 1840.
Mr. David Ports, (Postage) 25c.
Boonsborough, Washington Co., Maryland.
Dear Brother, I am bound by the ties of humanity and friendship
to write to you and let you know how we are doing We are all well
and doing well considering the hard times. We received your letter
last faul in which you stated your intention of comeing to Illinois this
faul we received the intelligence with great pleasure and satisfaction
and have maid what preparation we could for your comfortable re-
ceiption but we have looked in vane and our disappointment has given
us uneasiness [ ?] and the last though not least has been your entire
silance for the last year we wrote you a letter shortly before we re-
ceived your last and another when we received yours and gave you
my opinion as to the mode of traveling which is by water I consider
it to be the less expensive, the spediest, the less hasardous, and im-
bracing the most comfort. The spring is desidedly the best time for
comeing to this country I would not by any means advise you to some
by land in the spring ; you would have bad roads and high waters which
would impede your progress and there by increase the expense : on the
other hand you would have to travel through a sickly country which
might hasard the health of yourself and family ; Father has rented his
property in Savanna for seven dollars per month and has moved to Elk-
horn and built near us he has had bad health for the last two years
though for some time past it has been good except a continual busing in
his head which causes him to bee very faint at times. Mother has en-
joyed good health with but few exceptions sins she landed in the
country. Lavinia is well and has had generally good health sins she
left Savanna She is out at work 3^ miles from us in an agreable fam-
ily at $2 per week where she expects to remain until March after that
time she intends coming home and living with us when she expects by
that time if no preventing providence occurs to have money enough
to purchas 25 acres of land besids purchasing a hive of bees, a year-
ling calf and three hogs, keeping herself in good clothes and leaveing
255
enough for commenceing the silk business in the spring which she in-
tends doing. We have had i^ acres under cultivation the past season
and raised the following kinds and quantities of sugar beet and mangle
wortzel 200 bushels, rutabagoes 50, turnips 10, pumpkins and water-
melons 4 wagon loads, cucumbers 4 barrels, potatoes 100 bushels, cab-
bages one waggon load corn 5 bushels. From this statement you may
have some idea of the quality of our soil. You need not trouble your-
self about locust seed we have enough of that here, but I would be
glad if you could get some sasafras roots if they were taken up care-
fully and packed in moist dirt I think they would grow here I have
heard many regret that there is none here all believe it would grow if
it were introduced.
Coopering is in great demand, flour barrels are 50 cts. a peace and
tight barrels with only one head are $2 if you come to this country
you will not worst yourself nor ever have reason to regret your jour-
ney.
Although we are oppressed here by the hard times and scarcety of
money still the ritchness of our soil, the low price at which it can be
purchased, and the ease with which it can be improved and cultivated
all conspire to entitle it to the appelation of the western paradice which
it has received — a garden of delights greatly to be desired by the agri-
cultural community of all sections who desire to make a livelahood by
their occupation : and you know where the farmer can live no class
need starve.
Give me an account of death and marriages that have taken place
since we left and who has moved away. How is unkle McCoy get-
ting along tel him we have not forgot him though we write not.
Father and mother send their respects to you all. Give our respects
to all who may think us worth enquiring after.
No more at present but remain your affectionate brother and sisters
til death shall seperate us farther from each other than we are at preas-
ant.
(Signed) James H. Smith.
(Signed) Sarah A. Smith.
P. S. Write immediately on the receiption of this for if you do not
we shall conclude that you have forgotten us and given up the idea
of comeing to the northwest inform us how D. Hammond is coming on
and what has become of Sarah Ann ; Sarah Ann says if Otha James
comes to this country he shall be her adopted son.
Elk Horn Grove Carroll County Jan. the 9th., 1841.
(Postmarked) Cherry Grove,
8th. February, 1844.
(Postage) 25c.
Mr. David Ports,
Boonsborough, Washington Co., Md.
Dear Brother and Sister. . I now take up my pen to give you the
melencolen news of the death of our dear sister Lavinia who was mar-
256
ied the 2nd. of last Aprile to a miller a widdower by name William
James and died last Sunday night quarter past nine o'clock P. M. One
of the greatest causes of grief to us is that we live 30 ms. distant and
never got word of her illness until Sunday. Her complaint in the first
place was false conseption. She then took cold and it terminated in
concumtion her whole illness lasted only four weeks.
We had a fine daughter born October the 7th., 1841 which we call
Eurillah Jane and the 12th. December last a fine son which we call
James William.
It is but justice to Lavinia's neighbours to say that she had all the as-
sistance that her neighbours could afford in all her illness and the best
botanical doctor in the country. Sarah Ann is as well as could be ex-
pected, considering a bad could she had previous to her confinement
accompanied with a most afflicting cough which has raged to great
extent thrugh the whole country.
Father and mother are both well considering the infermaties of old
age; father complains very mutch with rhumatism they now live near
us his house is unocupied in Savanna they unight with us in earnestly
requesting your wrighting and leting us know something of your
affairs.
I must now state the reason of my remaining so long silent. The
last letter got from you was in the faul of 1839 in that letter stated
your intention of comeing to this country and requested my advice as
to the best route I then wrote immediately in which I gave you all the
directions I thought necessary, notwithstanding I had written but a
short time before.
Since that time we have had no information of you except occationly
from persons comeing from Maryland we made all the preparations
in our power for your comfortable reception. Spring roled around
and we looked in vain for you or any tidings from you. I concluded
that you were affrunted from some cause we knew not what we
thought that you did not intend to trouble yourself about us nor wish
to be troubled by us so we concluded to not write to you any more but
circumstances have transpired I think a bad promise is better broke
than kept. You will therefore except this as an apology and be care-
ful not to give us any ground of complaint from this sorce in future I
trust that you will write by which you will afTord us satisfaction and
discharge your own duty.
I have sold my possession at Elkhorn Grove and moved to this a
distance of 17 miles whare I have got good farming land, good mow-
ing land, and a never failing spring of good water. Give our love to
unkle McCoy and tel him that he is not forgotten by us though we
write not ; tel him to write to us. I am still pleased with the country
although I have had to struggle against hardships of various kinds I
still thing that the north-western part of Ills, possesses advantages
over any portion of country I have had the fortian to see yet even this
has its disadvantages which I think will be overcome in time by per-
severing industry of man.
Direct your letters Cherry Grove Carroll Co. No more at preasant
but remain your sincere and affectionate brother and well wisher
(Signed) J. H. Smith.
257
Feb. 4th., 1844.
Dear Brother Tell me whether you intend comeing to this country
let me know how many children you have and their names and ages
Our poor sister had to go down to the grave without hearing from you
the withering hand of death would wait no longger She had a kind
husband who was both willing and able to make her comfortable while
she did live. Give my respects to all our friends.
(Signed) Sarah J. Smith.
(Postmarked) Cherry Grove, Ills.,
13th. July, 1844.
(Postage) 25c.
Mr. David Ports,
Boonsboro, Washington Co., Md.
Dear Brother I take up my pen to answer your letter dated Aprile
last which bares to us inteligence of a most melancholy carrecter. To
hear of the distress of one who would have divided the last dollar he
possessed to relieve my distress, without being able to offer any re-
lief produces feelings which may be immagined but not discribed. We
are all as well as usual. Sarah Ann had a bad cough las winter dur-
ing her confinement, which has left a pain in her left side and breast
and racked her constitution considerably.
You say you desire comeing out next Spring which if you postpone
longer Sarah Ann will dispare of ever seeing you.
You have resolved to come foul or fair this I am glad to hear In
reference to that my advise is this : embrace every opertunity of selling
all the property you can for money and lay that by to defray your
traveling expences and the rest sell at publick sale except what you
need on the road and if you cannot pay all pay all you can and come
for if you can pay them after you get here sooner than by staing there
(which I believe you can) your creditors will loose nothing and you
will gain by coming for it is my opinion from what you say of the hard
times that a poor man in debt in Maryland must remain so a long time.
I will now answer one question which is the hardest of all you ask
namely what fortune I have made here in order that you may have a
correct idea of my preasant circumstances. Will say I bought town
lots in a nice vilage for 185 dollars on condition of the proprietor dig-
ging a well. I also bought 5 acres of timber & 40 of prairie for 40 dol-
lars and a log cabin for 20 dollars ; this town property I fenced which
cost me $52 on which I built a frame house cost $450 more here you
see my condition Hving all the time from hand to mouth in the mean-
time the proprieters failed to dig the well which I was not able to do I
had to haul my water a mile after a triel of four years I got tired and
determined to leave for Cherry Grove and make a farm my house I
sold for $125 timber for 32 fence for 30 log cabin for 8 and prairie for
30 in brake-ing of prarie which was to have been paid the 20th. of this
—17 H S
2S8
month but this I have been cheeted out of by the man of whom I
bought saying that he never sold it to me but gave it to me on condition
of my improveing it which I did not do.
Last faul I came on my clame for which I paid $40 and raised a
hewed log house 17^ feet square but was unable to finish it and built
a log cabin James William was born.
(Father's house is now occupied next spring he expects to go to
Savanna and live in his house where you will land if you come by
water which I think would be your best rout. The best cituation in
this country for you at this time is Mt. Carroll whare you can get 20c
per barrel shop and stuff all found you whare they can use 100 per day
house rent about as you pay in Maryland grosaries & clothing as cheap
or cheaper superfine flour $1.75 per hundred.) I had like to forgot to
tel you that I am nearer out of debt than I have been for five years
past I have a waggon, a yoke of oxen, a cow and calf and a yearling
filly, a fifty dollar note paiable Jan. ist., 1846.
If after you arrive here you should wish to make a farm I can fur-
nish you with a prarie clame on which there is a good spring one mile
nearer timber than I am a fire wood anough your lifetime
You may perhaps wish to know how you can fence a farm without
timber I am fencing mine with sod 214 rods of which I can make per
day this is faster than I could make a rale fence at the distance I am
from timber. Lavinie had 5 acres of timber land in Elkhorn Grove
which her husband sold for 86 bushels of wheat but never got a deed
during her life time and she dicing without heirs prevents him from
geting it the law this state gives it to father, you and Sarah Ann the
man from whom the deed is comeing says he will make father a deed
and he sais you shall have his shear.
Illinois nead not discourrage you I
There is a three cor- have worked. . . .able but I have been cheated
fhis^*^ietter^at°this°'point out of it Still I do not this country nor dis-
the gist of which may be p^ir of making a living if the life self
easily determined from ';-.,. ° i ^ ° r ,
what remains. and family IS spared. Go to no expense of buy
a waggon or. . . .Get to Wheeling the best way
you can from there I think your whole will not exceed to
Savanna provisions and all.
Come out next Spring, if reddy or not reddy, but if you should not
like the country do not blame me the winters are very cold and the
wether generally changeable we have had frost every month in the
year for two years sinse I have been here but still we have good crops.
We have had a great deal of Wet wether for two months past which
opperates against the corn preventing the people from plowing it as
they aught but wheat and oats look very promiseing.
No more at preasent but remain your firm friend and well wisher
July the 5th., 1844
(Signed) J. M. and Sarah Smith.
N. B. I have nothing nor father either which we could turn into
money or we would gladly send you some money to help you out you
say we nead not make any preparations for your reception this we
259
can not do now if you had come in the spring of 1840 as expected
we might have afforded you some assistance but we will do all we can
for your comfort.
(Postmarked) Mt. Morris, Ills.,
November 23rd., 1846.
(Postage) IOC
Mr. David Ports,
Lappens X Roads, Washington County, Md.
Well old friend I take this opportunity to forward you a few lines
to inform you that we are all well at present and hoping theas few
lines will find you all ingoing the same blesing — it has been pretty
sickley all around us with the chils and fever and some cases of the
bilous feaver but not many deths — I suppose you heard of the deth of
m}' father He wasant well from the time we left Maryland til his
deth — And I supose you heard of the deth of old Mr. Palmer and
Isaack Emore — it tis bin the sicklist spring and fall that has bin sinse
any of our ^larylanders has bin out heare — Weil I must let you heare
what I think of this little valley as I cal it for it tis onley abught 800
miles to the Alagany and 2600 to the Rocka mounten — I must tel you
the truth I don't wish myself back you may depend on it to be a slave
I am in a free state and a plenty of worke and good wages.
— I can get more for my family by wirking 2 days in the week than
you can and wirk 6 and I will give you my reason for saying so. I
make my dollar per day in the summer and get in the winter one Dol-
lar pir hundred for making rails and in the fall you get 4 bushels of
corn for one days wirking on the stack — -well this fall porks will bin
abught 2 dollars and maybe 2.50 — wheat is selling heare from 30 to
37y2 corn from 10 to i2i/4 — potatoes we don't keep any account of
them and the best I ever eat is hear — if you will pleas to bring me a
waggon load of appels and sider I will give you 4 bushels of potatoes
for one bushel of appels — altho I have some barels but tha have. . . .
tha ante as sweet as your appels.
And then you can raise as much off one acre heare as you can raise
of 3 in Maryland Mr and Curren bild a house 16 by 20 on Mr. S. Hitt
land last yinter — he found all and I done the wirk and I get it for a
tirm of years he break up some land — and I just put holes in the sod
and planted my potatoes pumpkins cabbage and never done anything
til I dug them and had better potatoes than I ever had among your
stones — I forgot to tel you the price of beef I can buy the best of
beef for from 2 to 3c pir pound — and it would do your hart good to
sea the prairie hens partredges rabbits wild geese ducks and
then go to Rock River with us when we cetch pike that will way from
20 to 25 pounds and sturgeons that way from 70 to loolb. and all
kinds of the best fish — I am a nitting a sain [sein] 50 yards long for
Mr. Heth brother James and myself — James lives 3 miles and Will 8
from me and doing well — I live one mile and half from Mt. Morris — ■
And if I cold get my mony I ben by [would buy] 20 akers one mile
from Mt. Morris and all my old Marylanders around me — the man
that owns the land is abilden am another place a mile from it and
26o
wants money bad so now is my time if I had my mony. I want you
to get to see H. Palmer and tel him to go and see Dr. Titghman and
then let him tel you what luck and wright to me — also I rote to V.
Taves laste fall abut some business and haven got any answer — -I
wold like to no what he has done for me — also I rote to Thos. Al-
baste and havent got any answer — but I reken out of site out of mind.
I got a letter from E. Blom and a mail paper — and by what I see in it
I think all the Locofokes has turned rong side out — you have made a
pore sho. I am glad that I am out of the scrape — so I think you and
some more had better come to this free state — before you get to be a
whig.
O I forgot to tel you the prise of whiskey, Ohio Whiskey is 6oc
per gallon — the rot-gut that they make heare is 37^ but when you
drink it you must hold your brith and it tastes a week old by 6 days
and if you get any in the summer you must hurry home as it will get
sawer — for my part I don't take a dram sometimes for 2 monts— and
I am hartier and can eat like old Tom Boisung. My old woman is
gitten so fat she can hardley waddel — I thot moving so far from the
old sod we wold stop our old tricks but it tis like the boys bela ake
[belly ache] — worsen — we are both gitten young — and if you wold
see Mrs. Albart how she can jump abut you wold think it was a gal
of 16 and she never was hartier than she has ben this summer — my
old woman, Mrs. Albart, lawrence, Mary and the rest of my family
send their best respects to you and wife and Miss Poffenbarger and
to all thare enquireing friends — also my respects to all my old friends
and if you and some more will come over some Saturday I will have
you some Ohio whiskey and a good mess of our big fish and some
fried venison — I must close and I hope you will get my letter and will
see Mr. Palmer you will rite and I hope to heare that you are a
coming to this fine cuntra — Nothing more but still remain your old
friend.
(Signed) O. H. Wallace.
Nov. 24, 1846.
P. S. If you have any noshen to come out heare and if you want
me to attend to anything abught your farthers estate I will with
pleasure Smith lives abught 30 miles from me and if you want me
I will find out if your farther maid a will or not and how it stands It
wold ben the best thing you ever done to come out here — and a good
many more of my old friends to make a easy and a good living — I want
you to see V. David Davis — I want to know what he has done for me
for I must have a meshean augar from hearde some how — he can get
achance [ ?] to send it by some one in the spring — Don't fale and right
to me as soon as you see the persons I have menshend — and I will be
happy to heare from you and all my old friends — my letter is like all
you old Locofhers [Locofocos] — it is upside down — 1 must give it up.
26l
March 13, 1855.
Extracts* from a letter written by David Ports of Millpoint Mary-
land to John Barker of Rush Creek, (near Savanna) Illinois, but
never mailed. Written in ansv^er to a letter of Barker's of September
8th, 1853.
"I have hard times here; my family is large and hard times to con-
tend with. Flour is $9.00 per barrel, corn $1.40 per bushel. Potatoes
$2.00 per bushel; bacon from 12 to i8c per pound; and everything
else in proportion."
"As regards my coming to your country I must tell you that it is
impossible for me at this time as I am not able to get anything ahead ;
otherwise I should like very much to come as I don't think I could
worse myself."
Rush Creek, Carroll Co.,
March 21st, 1857.
Extracts from letter of John Barker to David Ports. —
"The burying ground where your father and brother lay was sold
by the owner for building lots two years ago. I took up your father's
body; put it in the new burying ground. The young man had
mouldered away."
"The railroad will be completed this fall ; then we shall have a road
to the eastern market."
"We have to pay $150 for a good horse. Prices are high; cows are
worth from $20 to $35 ; beef is worth from eight to twelve cents ;
flour $5.50 per barrel; corn 50c; butter 20c per pound; flour barrels
50c; pork barrels $1.50 and hard to get."
(Signed) John Barker.
*The exti-acts from this and following letttr were evidently mailed in envelopes as there
was no postmark or address on outside, as in the case of the earlier letters.
PART IV.
Miscellaneous Contributions to State History
HON. WILLIAM THOMAS.
265
THE WINNEBAGO "WAR" OF 1827.
By Wm. Thomas.
[The writer of the following communication to the Jacksonville Journal
of Aug. 21st, 1871, Hon. William Thomas, was born in Allen (then Warren)
county, Kentucky, on the 22d of Nov. 1802, and there received the rudiments
of an English education at the county schools. When about grown he served
as deputy for his father who was sheriff of the county. He was then ap-
pointed deputy county clerk, and later studied law and was admitted to the
bar in 1823. In 1826 he came to Illinois locating at Jacksonville where
he remained the rest of his life. The first winter there he taught school,
and the next summer he volunteered as a private in the militia called out by
Gov. Edwards to repel the Winnebago uprising in JoDaviess county, and
was appointed quartermaster sergeant. He attended the Legislature of
1828-29 at Vandalia, and reported its proceedings for the Intelligencer of that
place. At that session he was elected by the Legislature States Attorney
of a new circuit created north of the Illinois river. On March 25th, 1830,
he married Miss Catherine Scott of Morgan county. The next year he was
appointed school commissioner of that county. He served as quartermaster
general in the two campaigns against Black Hawk, 1831-32. In 1834 he was
elected State Senator. Near the close of his term of four years the Deaf
and Dumb Institution was established at Jacksonville of which he was made
one of the trustees, and served in that capacity for thirty years. In March,
1839, he was elected circuit judge. In 1846 he was elected to the Legislature,
and in 1847 was chosen as delegate from Morgan county to the Constitutional
Convention. He was again elected to the Legislature in 1850. In 1861 he
was appointed by the Governor a member of the Board of Army Auditors,
and in 1869 a member of the State Board of Charities.
His wife died July 26, 1875, their only child. Underwood Thomas, having
died some years before. In old age he married Mrs. Leanna Orear, who
survived him, his death occurring at Jacksonville, August 22d, 1889, at the
age of 86 years, 9 months. — ^J. F. S]*
But few of the actors in that war remain among us. In 1827
Governor Edwards received information on which he reUed, that the
Winnebago Indians had attacked some keel boats which had been
employed conveying army supplies to Prairie du Chien on their return
down the river, and that settlers and miners on Fever river were in
imminent danger from the same and other Indians. The Governor
ordered the commanders of the different regiments and odd battalions
of General Harrison's brigade on the eastern side of the Illinois river
(except the 20th regiment) to take immediate steps for detaching into
service, according to law, one-fourth of their respective commands.
And should any part of the frontier south of Rock river be invaded
by the savages, the Colonel entitled by law to command the detach-
ment, was ordered to march it, with the least delay, to the support
of the point of attack without waiting for further orders.
* J. F. Snyder.
266
The Governor also sent by express (meaning a messenger on horse-
back) to Col. Thomas M. Neal, of Springfield, commanding the 20th
regiment of militia, an order, saying, "You will accept any number of
mounted volunteers, not exceeding six hundred, who will equip them-
selves find their own subsistence, and continue in service for thirty
days, unless sooner discharged. They will rendezvous as fast as pos-
sible at Fort Clai-k (meaning Peoria), where you will organize, and
take command, of them, and march with all possible expedition to the
assistance of our fellow citizens at Galena, where, if you find an officer
of the United States army entitled to a superior command to yourself,
you will report to him and receive orders. In your progress you will
avoid rashly exposing your men to unequal contests ; but it is expected
that you will not overlook any proper opportunity of repelling any
hostile incursions of the savages."
The facts represented to the Governor on which he acted have never
(as far as I have known) been made public. Acting upon this order
of the Governor, Col. Neale called for volunteers from the counties
of Sangamon and Morgan. Three companies were raised in this
county; one commanded by Wiley B. Green, the first sheriff of the
county, numbering nearly one hundred, with John Wyatt ist, and
James Evans 2 lieutenants, and Jesse Rube, latelv deceased, as orderlv
sergeant ; one by William Gordon, number not exceeding forty, with
Nathan Winters as ist lieutenant and was commanded by Captain
Rogers (who resided between Winchester and Meredosia), numbering
the same as Captain Gordon's ; the names of the other officers I have
forgotten.
I was a volunteer in Captain Grave's company. My messmates were
Doctor H. S. Taylor, McHenry Johnson, Enoch C. March, Sam,
Blair and a man named Biggs, a visitor from Kentucky. Of this mess
I am the only survivor. We were required to take ten days' provisions,
during which time it was expected we would reach Galena, where
additional supplies could be obtained.
During our preparations to start we had continual heavy rains,
which raised the rivers, creeks and branches to an unusual height.
The companies from this county made their way to Peoria in messes
and squads, swimming the streams not bridged. LIpon the arrival of
all the corps at Peoria, Sam'l T, Mathews was elected lieutenant colo-
nel, and Elijah lies, of Springfield, major — who because he rode a mule
was called mule major. So soon as we left Peoria, James D, Henry
(afterwards General Henry) was appointed adjutant; Gershom Jayne,
of Springfield, surgeon and Dr, Taylor assistant surgeon ; Wm, Smith,
a merchant of Springfield, quartermaster ; and I was appointed quar-
termaster sergeant.
The heavy rains had extended to Rock river, and the prairies were
so saturated with water that we could travel only in a walk, our horses
onbreaking the sod at every step. Following a trail made by the
Indians and persons going to the lead mines, on the fifth day from
Peoria we reached Rock river at Dixon's Ferry. During the march
we had to drink the w^ater standing in swamps, pools and holes in the
prairies. Upon reaching Rock river, seeing that it was a beautiful,
267
clear stream with gentle current, we expected a good drink of water^
but, to our surprise, we found that no better than the water of the
swamps through which we had passed. Dozens were made sick by
swallowing the water before tasting it. We forded the river in the
afternoon on a Sunday, those riding small horses swimming, and
encamped on the bank until next day. Beyond the river we found the
country dry.
By this time our ten days' provisions were exhausted — we had in a
baggage wagon only two barrels of flour, and some crackers, and the
most of a barrel of whiskey, which we divided that evening, and pre-
pared for an early start next morning.
Accordingly on the next morning we made an early start, and
about twelve o'clock found a beautiful spring of clear water, the first
that we had seen since leaving Peoria, and of which we partook with
a will. We took dinner there, and let our horses graze for more than
an hour, then continued the march until sundown, when, finding an-
other good spring, we encamped, having marched, as we supposed,
twenty-five miles that day. The next day, by forced march, we
reached Gratiot's Grove, fifteen miles from Galena, where we were
unable to procure supplies, and where we remained the next day. Then
we removed our encampment to the White Oak Springs, near a tavern
house occupied by Mrs. Nabb, from Springfield. We neither found,
or could hear of any officer of the United States army, nor of any
hostile Indians.
Captain Smith, of Sangamon, and Captain Rodgers, of Morgan
county, agreed to go to Prairie du Chien with a report for Colonel
Neale to the commanding officer of that post. They started without
a pilot or compass. They were gone several days, and finally returned,
reporting that they had lost their way, and had not been able to
reach the garrison.
The thirty days of our enlistment being then about expiring, and
all apprehension of hostility from Indians having ceased. Col. Neale
decided to disband the army (regiment), and the men were suppHed
with provisions to last them home, and returned in companies and
messes.
During the winter of 1826-27, and spring of 1827, an immense num-
ber of adventurers and pioneers had gone up to the Fever river country
expecting to make fortunes by working in the mines, who upon the
alarm that the Indians were threatening them, returned in haste by
the first means or conveyance. Most of them came down the river,
because it was not considered safe to attempt to pass down the land
route, and here originated the name "Sucker," the fish of that name,
it was said, passed down the river at that season of the year, and
citizens of southern Illinois were said, in their flight, to follow the
example of the fishes.*
*Gov Ford savs: (History of Illinois, pp. 67, 68.) ' 'It was estimated that the number of
miners in the mining- country in 1827. was six or seven thousand. The Illinoians run up the
Mississippi river in steamboats in the spring season, worked the lead mines during the warm
weather and then run down the river again to their homes, in the fall season, thus establish-
ino- as was supposed, similitude between their migratory habits and those of the fishy tribe
called 'Suckers\ For which reason the Illinoians were called 'Suckers', a name which has
stuck to them ever since. " In this account the order of migration is evidently reversed. The
miners came down the river in the spring to their farms in southern Illinois to pitch and tend"
their crops, and went up to the lead mines to work through the winter when they had no pro-
ductive work they could do at their homes.— J. F. S.
268
We found the flux prevailing as an epidemic all over the mining
country. All the doctors in the country were constantly engaged.
The extent of the fatality I had no means of knowing, but there was
necessarily much suffering for want of medicines and other attendance
among the sick, and many deaths.
Upon that campaign, many amusing incidents occurred, although
the march through mud and water was by no means pleasant either to
man or beast. We had several false alarms from the night sentinels,
and, in consequence, calls to arms, intended to test the discipline and
courage of the officers and soldiers. Upon the first alarm, our Captain
Greene was suddenly taken ill, and continued until the apparent danger
was over.
We encamped the second night out from Peoria near the present
village of Tiskilwa, where Sergeant Teas, of Sangamon county, found
a bee tree from which he and his mess obtained a good supply of honey.
One morning Adjutant Henry and myself, hoping from the appearance
of the country miles ahead, that we could find running water, rode in
advance of the regiment, intending to mix with the water part of a
bottle of whiskey in my saddlebags. We found only some pools of
stagnant water, but every drop of the whiskey had leaked out through
the corn cob stopper of my bottle ; so we had to drink the stagnant
water without the benefit of the whiskey. We saw no deer or wolves
on the route ; but prairie rattlesnakes afforded numerous opportuni-
ties for the skill of our marksmen.
When we reached the White Oak Springs our quartermaster, whose
duty it was to purchase supplies, deserted us, and that duty devolved
upon the sergeant, who discharged it to the entire satisfaction of all
concerned. Crossing the Winnebago swamp, or marsh, many of our
horses became mired, so that the riders had to dismount, and oc-
casionally the horses had to be drawn out by use of the halters and
bridles.
Forage for horses was out of the question and they had to subsist
on prairie grass alone. After leaving the settlements we saw no green-
headed flies, though they were exceedingly troublesome on the route
to Peoria. The Governor's order was dated July 4, 1827, at Mt. Ver-
non. The regiment, composed of independent farmers and mechanics,
was raised, organized, marched to White Oak Springs, and returned
home in not exceeding thirty days. Two of our Morgan county men
were drowned in a branch of Crooked creek when returning home. We
had no baggage wagon from this county. My mess had a very goo9
tent, which very few of the other messes had. Having no baggage
wagons, and having to carry our provisions, arms and equipments on
horseback, we had but little room for tents, even if they had been
supplied. We slept on saddle blankets on the ground, with our sad-
dles for pillows, and for covering, overcoats and blankets. During
that season of the year, however, we had but little use for covering,
other than our overcoats.
The question of pay was not considered of much consequence ; it
was well understood that this depended on the action of Congress.
and no fears were entertained of the success of Gen. Duncan, our rep-
269
resentative in Congress, in obtaining the necessary appropriation. We
were not disappointed, as appropriations were made by the sessions
of Congress of 1827-28, and we were paid in the spring of 1828 the
full rates; each sergeant major and quartermaster sergeant nine dol-
lars per month; each drum and fife major eight dollars and thirty-
three cents per month ; each corporal, drummer, fifer and teamster
seven dollars and thirty-three cents ; each farrier, saddler and artificer,
rated as privates, eight dollars ; each gunner, bombardier and private,
six dollars and sixty-six cents, in addition to which we were paid for
the use of our horses, arms and accoutrements, and for the risk thereof,
except for horses killed in action, forty cents per day. For rations
seventy-five cents per day, and one day's pay for fifteen miles travel
to the place of rendezvous and returning home.
["Col. Thomas M. Neale was born in Fanquier county, Virginia in 1796-
When he was a mere child he was taken by his parents to Bowling Green,
Kentucky. On the breaking out of the war of 1812, he enlisted and served
his country faithfully as a common soldier. He studied law and was ad-
mitted to the bar in Bowling Green. In the fall of 1824, Mr. Neale arrived
in Springfield, and at once commenced the practice of law. For some three
or four years his practice was good. In the campaign against the Winne-
bago Indians in 1827, he was the colonel in command of all the infantry
companies. (?) After the Black Hawk war, Col. Neale was elected surveyor
of the county, and one of his acts was the appointment of Abraham Lincoln
as his deputy. He was also a justice of the peace for many years, and as such
uniting many couples in marriage, some times receiving as his fee only a
saddle of venison. He died August 7, 1840." From the History of Sangamon
County, Illinois. Interstate Publishing Company, Chicago, 1881, p. 77.
In the first campaign of the Black Hawk war, 1831, Col. Neale served as
paymaster of the first regiment of Gen. Jos. Duncan's brigade. The other
oflacers of the regiment were Colonel James D. Henry, Lieut. Colonel Jacob
Fry, Major John T. Stuart, Adjutant Thomas Collins and Quartermaster
Edward Jones. — J. F. S.]
270
THE OATH OF VINCENNES.
By Clarence Walworth Alvord, University of Illinois.
When George Rogers Clark occupied Kaskaskia on the night of July
4-5, 1778, he was greatly surprised to find that his position was made
less difficult for him by an important party of American traders, resi-
dent in the village, and French inhabitants, all of whom were favorable
to the cause represented by himself, and that it was through the en-
deavors of this party that no resistance to his occupation of the village
had been ofifered.* It was on account of the friendly feeling of this
party and with its cooperation that he was able to send on July 5th a
detachment of thirty men under Captain Bowman to Cahokia, where
the local American party was sufficiently strong to persuade all the
villagers to take the oath of allegiance.
The position of Vincennes, which was on the road to Detroit, where
was situated the main force of the British in the northwest, made neces-
sary its occupancy by Clark ; for, should a company of British soldiers
be placed there, Clark would be cut ofif from all communication with
the East and his own position at Kaskaskia continually threatened.
The final result would have been that the Virginians could only escape
by taking refuge on the Spanish side of the' river. Clark clearly per-
ceived the importance of the position, but dared not reduce his small
company by detaching 'from it sufficient men to occupy a distant vil-
lage. His only hope lay; therefore, in the friendly attitude of the
French inhabitants. This he had proved in Kaskaskia and Cahokia,
and the French of these villages assured him that the people of Vin-
cennes were of the same mind. Clark had in his own hands further
proof of their attachment, for among letters of Commandant Roche-
blave was one from Lieutenant Governor Abbott, commandant of Vin-
cennes, in which the Vincennes French were called rebels. f
The timid and shortsighted policy of the British government in with-
drawing garrisons from the posts in the west gave Clark the same
advantages at Vincennes that had made possible his occupancy of
Kaskaskia. Abbott had been appointed lieutenant governor of the
post and had been in the village a short time during 1777, but in the
summer of 1778, the village was no longer protected by a British garri-
son. This made the plan which had been formed by Clark and the
French possible of execution.
*For a full discussion of the help given by this American partv at Kaskaskia, see Illinois
Hist. Collection. II., Introduction, XXXI, et seq.
tSee ' 'post".
2/1
The priest of the parish of Kaskaskia, who was at the same time
vicar general of the Illinois country, was Father Pierre Gibault, who
had been in the country for several years and exercised great influence
over the French.* He had been a member of the American party, be-
fore the arrival of Clark, and had proved his loyalty in all the events
which bound the French to the American cause. He assured the Vir-
ginia commander ithat it would be unnecessary to send a military
force to Vincennes, because he and the French could persuade the
villagers to throw in their lot with the Americans. f With the priest
in this mission was associated Dr. Jean Baptiste Lafont, who was to
act in a civil capacity, while Father Gibault used his spiritual influence,;];
Other men accompanied these, among whom was a spy in Clark's
interest.
A proclamaton to be published to the people of Vincennes was pre-
pared. This was undoubtedly translated into French by Jean Baptiste
Girault, a resident of Cahokia, who had been appointed on July 6th
the official translator.§|| It read as follows:
"George Rogers Clark, Colonel Commandant of the troops of Vir-
ginia at the Falls of the Ohio and at the Illinois, etc., addresses the
inhabitants of the Post of Vincennes.
"The inhabitants of the different British posts from Detroit to this
post, having on account of their commerce and position great influence
over the various savage nations, have been considered as persons fitted
to support the tyrannies which have been practiced by the British
ministry from the commencement of the present contest.
"The secretary of state for America has ordered Governor Hamilton
at Detroit to intermingle all the young men with the different nations
of savages, to commission officers to conduct them, to furnish them
all necessary supplies, and to do everything which depends on him to
excite them to assassinate the inhabitants of the frontiers of the United
States of America ; which orders have been put into execution at a
council held with the different savage nations at Detroit the 17th to
the 24th day of the month of June, 1777. The murders and assassin-
ations of women and children and the depredations and ravages, which
have been committed, cry for vengence with a loud voice.
"Since the United States has now gained the advantage over their
British enemies, and their plenipotentiaries have now made and con-
cluded treaties of commerce and alliance with the kingdom of France
and other powerful nations of Europe, His Excellency the Governor
of Virginia has ordered me to reduce the different posts to the west
of the Miami with a part of the troops under my command, in order
to prevent longer responsibility for innocent blood. According to these
♦Shea. ' 'Life and Times of Most Rev. John Carroll, passim."
tClark's Memoir in Entilish ' 'Conquest of the Northwest. " I. 487.
il have not succeeded in finding any information concernincr Lafont.
§Can. Archives, B., 184, vol. II, 508. The transcription of the French may be found in Ap-
pendix I. This is incorrectly endorsed as a ' 'Petition of the Inhabitants of Post Vincennes to
Colonel Clark of Virginia", but is correctly callendared in the Can. Archives Report for 1888.
The endorsement states that it was received December 4, 1780, which is the date upon which the
papers taken from Colonel de la Balme were received at the British headquarters. So prob-
ably a copy of the proclamation of George Rogers Clark was carried on the Ill-starred expedition
of that leader. Since it appears among the calendars of non-related papers, it has escaped the
notice of historians up to this time: at least I have not noticed its previous use. See Dunn,
Indiana. 136; English. Conquest of the Northwest. 1. 201.
iJFor further information concerning Girault, consult /W. Hist. Collections, U, 20, n. 2.
272
orders I have taken possession of this fort and the munitions of this
country; and I have caused to be pubHshed a proclamation offering
assistance and protection to all the inhabitants against all their enemies
and promising to treat them as the citizens of the Republic of Virginia
(in the limits of which they are) and to protect their persons and prop-
erty, if it is necessary, for the surety of which the faith of the govern-
ment is pledged ; provided the people give certain proofs of their at-
tachment to the states by taking the oath of fidelity in such case re-
quired, as prescribed by the law, and by all other means which shall be
possible for them, to which offers they have voluntarily acceded. I
have been charmed to learn from a letter written by Governor Abbott
to M. Rocheblave that you are in general attached to the cause of
America.
"In consequence of which I invite you all to accept offers hereafter
mentioned, and to enjoy all their privileges. If you accede to this offer,
you will proceed to the nomination of a commandant by choice or elec-
tion, who shall raise a company and take possession of the fort and of
all the munitions of the king in the name of the United States of Ameri-
ca for the Republic of Virginia and continue to defend the same until
further orders.
"The person thus nominated shall have the rank of captain and
shall have the commission as soon as possible, and he shall draw for
rations and pay for himself and his company from the time they shall
take the fort, etc., into possession. If it is necessary, fortifications shall
be made, which will be also paid for by the State.
"I have the honor of being with much consideration, sirs, your very
humble and obedient servant, G. R. Clark."
Armed only with this proclamation and some letters from the French
inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Father Gibault and Dr. Lafont set forth to
conquer Vincennes, possession of which would assure to the \'ir-
ginians their hold on the Northwest. The story of their success may
best be told in Clark's own language :* "All this had its desired ef-
fect. Mr. Gibault and his party arrived safe, and, after their spending
a day or two in explaining matters to the people, they universally
acceded to the proposal (except a few emissaries left by Mr. Abbott,
who immediately left the country), and went in a body to the church,
where the oath of allegiance was administered to them in the most
solemn manner." The accompanying facsimile informs us for the
first time how this oath was administered.! Fach of the inhabitants
subscribed to the following :
"You make oath on the Holy Evangel of Almighty God to renounce
all fidelity to George the Third, King of Britain, and to his successors,
and to be faithful and true subjects of the Republic of Virginia as a
free and independent state; and I swear that I;|: will not do or cause
anything or matter to be done which can be prejudicial to the liberty
or independence of the said people, as prescribed by Congress, and
that I will inform some one of the judges of the country of the said
state of all treasons and conspiracies which shall come to my knowledge
*Clark's Memoir, in Engligh, Conquest of the Northwest. I, 488.
tThe transcription of the French and the sig-natures may be found in Appendix II.
IThe French of the oath is barbarous. The pronoun is three times changed.
■27Z
against the said state or some other of the United States of America:
In faith of which we have signed. At Post Vincennes, July 20, 1778.
Long hve the Congress."*
One hundred and eighty-two inhabitants subscribed to this oath by
either signing their names or making their marks. After this, writes
Clark :f "'An officer was elected, the fort immediately [garrisoned],
and the American flag displayed, to the astonishment of the Indians,
and everything settled far beyond our most sanguine hopes." Father
Gibault and his party with some of the inhabitants of Vincennes re-
turned to Kaskaskia about August ist with the "Oath of Vincennes"
and the news of the peaceful occupancy of the Wabash valley.
This submission of Vincennes in July was not permanent, for a few
months later the British under Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, re-
took it, and again threatened the Illinois country. Fortunately the
season was so late that Hamilton decided to wait till spring to attack
the Americans and therefore dispersed his troops and Indians. As is
well known Clark anticipated the attack by marching in February,
1779, against Vincennes. He had learned to trust the French by that
time and sent word to the people of Vincennes to expect him, and they
did not disappoint him, when he arrived with his American and French
army, after that tedious and difficult march over the submerged
prairies.
Appendix I.
George Rogers Clark — Collonel Commandant des Troupes de la
Virginie a la chiite de la Belle Riviere et aux Illinois &c &c.
Adresse
Messrs les Habitants du Poste Vincennes.
Les Habitants des difTerents Postes Britanniques depuis le Detroit
jusque ce Poste ici, ayant par leur Commerce et leur situation Beau-
coup dTnfluence sur les differentes nations Sauvages, ont ete considere
comme des Personnes propre a supporter les tirannie qui ont ete pra-
tiquee par le Ministere Britannique depuis le commencement de la
Presente Contestation.
Le Secretaire d'Etat pour I'Amerique a ordonne au Gouverneur
Hamilton au Detroit de meller tous les jeunes gens avec les differ-
entes Nations Savages commissioner des officiers pour Conduire, leur
fournir toutes choses necessaires et faire tout ce que dependra de luy
pour les exciter a- assassiner les Habitants des frontieres des Etats
unis de I'Ameriques lequel ordre ont ete mi en Execution a un Conseil
tenfi avec les differentes nations Sauvages au Detroit le I7e au 24e
jour du mois de Juin 1777. Les meutes et assassinations des femmes
et enfants et les Degats et Ravages qui ont ete commise crie Vengence
a haute voix.
* The "Oath of Vincennes" belongs to the Kaskaskia Records. For a description of
these see V.\. Hist. Collection, II., Introduction CLI.
t Clark's Memoir, in English, Conquest of the Northwest, I., 488. I have used the
account in Clark's Memoir rather than the earlier and more authoritative one in his
letter to Mason, because it is more comprehensive and does not contradict the earlier
statement.
— 18 H S
274
Les etats unis ayant a present gagne la Desus sur leurs Ennemis
Britannique Et leur Plenipotentiares ayant actuellement faite et con-
cludes des Traites de Commerce et Alliance avec le Royaume de la
France et autres nations puissantes de I'urope.
Son Excellence le Gouverneur de la Virginie m'a ordonne de reduire
les differentes Postes a I'occident des Miamis avec une parti des troupes
sous mon Commandement, pour empecher qu'on ne reponde davantage
de Sang Innocent. Suivant lesquelles ordres J'ay pris possession de
ce Fort et munitions de ce pais. Et j'ay fait publier une Proclamation
offrant assistance et Protection a tons les Habitants, contre les Ennemis
et les Traiter comme les Citoyens de la Republique de la Virginie
(dans les limites de laquelle ils sont) et leurs garder leurs Personnes
et Effets s'il est necessaire — a la surete de quoy la foy du gouvernment
est gage pourvu qu'ils Donnent des preuves certaine de leur attach-
ment aux Etats en pretant le Serment de fidelitie en Pareille cas requis,
comme prescrit par la Loix et par tous les autres moyens qui leur
sera possible, auxquelles offres ils ont volontairement succedes. J'ay
ete bien charme de trouver par une Lettre ecrite par le gouverneur
abbot a M. Rochblave que vous estes en general attache a la cause de
I'Amerique.
En concequence de quoy je vous invite tous d'accepter des offres cy
depuis, et de jouir de toutes leurs privileges. S'y vous accede a cette
offre, vous Procederes a la nomination d'un Commandant par choix
ou I'Elexion, lequel levera un Compagnie, et Prendre Possession du
Fort et de toutes les Munitions du Roy au nom des Etats Unis de
I'Amerique pour la Republique de la Virginie et continuer a le defendre
jusqu'a d'autres ordres.
La Personne ainsy nomme aura Rang de Capitaine et aura de Com-
mission aussy tot qu'il sera possible et tirrera des Rasions et paye pour
luy et sa compagnie depuis le temps qu'ils prendrons le Fort & ca en
Possession et s'il est necessaire Ton fera de fortifications qui seront
payee aussy par I'Etat.
J'ay I'honneur d'etre avec beaucoup de consideration messieurs
Votre tres Hble et tres obt serviteur, G. R. Clark.
Endorsed : Requete de Habitants du Poste de Vincennes au Colonel
Clark de la Virginie. recue le 4m Deer, 1780.^
OATH OF VINCENNES.
Vous faitte Serment Sur Les ste Evengille du dieux toute puisent de
renonce a toute fidelite a gorge troy Roy de La grande Bretaigne Et
Ses succeseurs Et d'aitre fidelle et vraie Seujaits de La Republique de
Le Virginie comme un Etat Libre Et Independent et que Jamais Je Ne
feray ni ne ferais faire auqunne Shousse ou matiere qui puisse pre-
judisiable a La Liberte ou Javertiray a quelqueuns des Juge de pay
dudit Etat de toute trayzons ou conspirations qui viendras a ma con-
noissance contre La dit Etat ou quelqautre des Etat Unis de Lamer-
ique En foy de qoy nous avons Signne au poste Vincenne Le 2one Juilet
1778.
*Can. Archives, B., 184, vol. 2, 508.
275
VIVE LE CONGRES.
(1 The names follow the order of the first column, then the second, etc. The number
added for convenience of reference.)
1 Baullou [?]i
2 Jean Bapte Cadin.
3 Piere Kerais [Querez ?]
4 fr. Bosseron.
5 Huberdeau.
6 Chine.
7 N. Perrot.
8 Delisle.
9 Laplente.
10 michel Brouilest.
11 Jacques Lacroix.
12 Endres Languedoc.
13 Jean Baptiste michliet.
14 Jauseph Lougat.
15 Endres St DeLise.
16 Embroise Dumais.
17 Jens Bertons pere
18 Jeane Bertons fils.
19 Rouel Bertiomme.
20 Jane Babtiste Durboy.
21 Charle Lamoureuse.
22 Jauseph Duroche.
23 Louis Crepoux.
24 Babtiste Harpins.
25 Louis Boy .
26 Louis Campeau.
27 Baptiste Sentira.
28 Entoine Boyri — [ ?]
29 Jauseph Lafleur.
30 Simon michon.
31 Pouis cappelet.
32 Entoine Bisonet.
33 antoine dugal.
34 jean marie boiree.
35 Louie Lavalle.
36 Guillaume daperon.
37 Louie haudet.
38 rene gauder.
39 Piere Renge.
40 Michel Campeau.
41 Jean bte Lafreniere.
42 Jan bte vosdres.
43 jean Babtiste Charpentier.
44 Jean bte carons.
45 piere Perons fise.
46 alexis Lavicharduirre.
47 J. M. Legras.
48 Le Grand, juge.
49 fransoy Rassinne.
50 Joseph Ducharme.
51 charle Villeneuve.
52 charle Bannaux.
53 guillaume Pages.
54 pier Coden.
55 Piere Cornoyre.
56 jean Baptiste St. aubin.
57 Phillibert Dit Orleans.
58 Entoine dannis.
59 Ca Morin [very doubtful.]
60 jauseph duebee.
61 Entoine Catis.
62 Endre ortie.
63 Charle guilbeaux,
64 fransoy morins.
65 Jauseph st Louie.
66 Piere Parend.
67 thimote demonbreun.
68 nicolias Bailliargon.
69 piere ambelleton.
70 frinsoy Languedoc.
71 frinsoy Bazinest.
72 Piere lajour.
73 Piere cartier.
74 Jacque denis.
75 andre Roy.
76 nicolas chapard.
78 andre monplesir.
79 frinsoy baroy.
80 Jean bte hor [ ?]
81 francois LaViolette.
82 amable Gaigne.
93 joph [?]
84 Jauseph Parend.
85 jacque Lamotte.
86 Morin.
87 Louie Brouilet.
88 Piere Laforest.
89 piere grimar.
90 amable deLille.
91
92 Four names completely
93 torn out.
94
95 Jan babtiste hodlet.
276
96 FranCois Ci Cote.
97 Jean Lamarine,
98 abram [ ?] gaigne.
99 Piere denis.
00 Hen canpeaux.
01 charle gielle.
02 francois malet.
03 Jauseph Lateuse.
04 amable garquipis.
05 frensoy truville.
06 piere Blanchard.
07 charle delille.
08 Joseph Reirux.
09 jauseph descoteaux.
10 Babtiste deshoribe.
11 Janbte st onge.
12 tousint goden.
13 Loui goden.
14 gabriel Casteaux [ ?]
15 alexis Belanger.
16 Pierre Gamelin.
17 Oliver sautier.
18 Xaxier [ ?] St. Chapatous.
19 Basile Cabat [or Labat.]
20 Miles Henry.
21 frinsoy Pakins.
22 frinsoy mercie.
23 frinsoy st. antoine.
24 frinsoy deshoriee.
25 Piere paipins.
26 Babtiste clement.
27 germene Clement.
28 Jauseph Clement.
29 Francois turpays [? ]
30 Piere daignaux.
31 jean bt toutge.
32 piere st antoyne.
33 rene Codere.
34 Babtiste chartier.
35 charle Languedoc.
36 honores Dannie.
37 Jacque Latrimouille.
38 abelle.
39 Marie.
140 Entoine goyaux.
141 frensoy st Piere.
142 Julien Canpeaux.
143 frensoy valiquels.
144 Jauseph Lhorand.
145 Entoine Bordeleaux.
146 michel nos.
147 Jean Lagarde.
148 Joseph ammelins.
149 Louie Biord.
150 piere verne.
151 Jan Louie denoyons.
152 michel Charetier.
153 Louie mallet.
154 Jaque cardinal fis.
155 Jauseph charetier.
156 P. Barron.
157 Jean bte Berguins.
158 franssoy Bertiomme,
159 Babtiste vaudris.
160 alecSis La deroule,
161 francoise goderri.
162 Babtiste Duboy.
163 andre aleo.
164 antoine gogiets.
165 dominique Bergand.
166 amable Perons.
167 Louie deslorie.
168 Antoine de Bucherville.
169 Charlie dominique.
170 Jauseph Bazine.
171 alecSix gaignolest.
172 Louie I'evrond.
173 jaque Endres,
174 frensoy Peltier.
17s Jaques gidon ( ?)
176 Jn bte Chabot.
177 Chalbaunause.
178 fransoy Boucher.
179 baneau (ms torn out).
180 Entoine malest.
181 nicolas Cardinal.
182 fransoy fouris.
i77
THE GOVERNMENT OF ILLINOIS, 1790-1799.
By May Allinson, University of Illinois.
During the years, 1783 to 1787, the great western territory lying
between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi had come under the con-
trol of the government of the United States. By the treaty of Paris,
September 3, 1788, Great Britain formally renounced her claims to
this territory and during the years, 1784 to 1786, the older states which
laid claim to the northwest territory had been induced, one by one, to
renounce their disputed ancient rights.
The cession of the Northwest Territory cast upon the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia, already overburdened with the difficult
problems which arose for solution, a new and most difficult task— that
of providing some form of government and protection for a vast re-
gion, far from the seat of government ; a territory sparsely populated
with hostile Indians and a few thousand Frenchmen whose needs were
little appreciated by the members of Congress.
From 1783 to 1787, various plans for the disposal and government
of this western territory were taken under consideration and during
these years was gradually evolved the policy for the government of
the territories of the United States. The territorial policy was based
on two fundamental principles ; [ i ] the maintenance of the territory
for the common benefit of all the states; and [2] the gradual develop-
ment by successive stages from the colonial state of political depen-
dence on the mother country to independent self-governing states of
the union.
April 23, 1784. a plan drafted by Jefferson was presented for the
consideration of Congress and passed. The ordinance of 1784, which
formed the basis for the later ordinance of 1787, offered a method
for the establishment of a temporary and later a permanent govern-
ment for the territory, but left the creation of local government to the
future.* The ordinance, therefore, had no practical results and, during
the vears 1784-87. the Illinois country was left to itself while Congress
sought to solve the problems demanding immediate solution. Mav
20. 1785, Congress passed the Grayson or Land Ordinance of 1785
providing for the immediate survey and division of the eastern part of
the territory into townships six miles square and laying the founda-
tion for the svstem of land surve\s in use in the western states todav.
.Icmrnals of Congress, IX, lis.
278 ■
During these years, Kaskaskia had been the scene of great disorder
and confusion. Immigration of frontiersmen had resulted in racial
antagonisms and quarrels which caused the dissolution, in 1782, of th^
court established by Todd.* From 1782- 1786, John Dodge, an im-
scrupulous American with no authority, had ruled through sheer force,
until finally driven out of the country. f Cahokia, sixty miles to the
north, undisturbed by Americans, continued to maintain the civil gov-
ernment established by Todd in 1779 and enforced law and order. |
The frequent petitions of the French inhabitants of the Illinois
country, however, had not allowed Congress to forget the necessity
of providing some government and protection for these distant settle-
ments. As early as 1784, the Committee of Congress to whom these
petitions had been referred, recommended and outlined the essential
characteristics of a temporary government for Kaskaskia. §.
August 24, 1786, the secretary of Congress was ordered to pacify
the "inhabitants of Kaskaskies," by informing them "that Congress
have under their consideration the plan of a temporary government
for the said district, and that its adoption will be no longer protracted
than the importance of the subject and a due regard to their interest
may require.'!
Congress, however, had found that "The government of the set-
tlement on the Illinois and Wabash is a subject very perplexing in it-
self, and rendered more so by our ignorance of many circumstances on
which a right judgment depends. The inhabitants at those places claim
protection against the savages and some provision for both criminal and
civil justice. It also appears that land-jobbers are among them, who
are likely to multiply litigations among individuals, and by collusive
purchases of spurious titles, to defraud the United States.^
April 24, 1787, Congress passed a resolution at the urgent request
of the Virginia representatives, that an officer and troops should b?
established at \'incennes to assist in maintaining order in the west.
Two days later, the Secretary of War ordered General Harmar, in
charge of the United States troops at Fort Harmar, to move the greater
Dart of his force to the Wabash country, "to protect the inhabitants
from the lawless banditti, as the French inhabitants at Vincennes and
Kaskaskia were complaining of the lawless troops of George Rogers
Clark and of the Indians, by both of whom they had been plundered
and left in poverty.**
In the summer of 1787, Congress again took tmder consideration
the question of the Northwest Territory, and. through pressure from
the promoters of the Ohio Land Company. Dass?d the Ordinance of
1787. This document, the Constitution for the Northwest Territory,
set forth the principles of territorial government which are still in force
in onr territories.
It provided for a governor appointed by Congress, [after 1789 by
the President with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate.]
*I11. Hist. CoH. II. Infrodi-clion. CVII.
•MHri rvvvii and CXXXIV.
tlliif'. Introduction.
Si'appi's of Old Cfnjrrps^. .Trnp R. 1TP4.
Il-Torrna!."? of ConsrPS-". IX, 140.
1'^ffidison 10 .Jpffwson. April 2X. IT.*."), in Iiinin . Indinna 200.
**.Tonrnals of Con^ross. XII and XIII. 40.
279
for a term of three years ; a secretary appointed in the same way for a
term of four years, and later authorized by act of Congress to execute
all powers and duties of the Governor in case of his death, resignation,
removal or necessary absence from the territory ; his primary duty was
to keep a record of the proceedings of the various departments of the
territorial government and transmit copies of such every six months to
the Secretary of Congress. Three judges were to be appointed by the
Governor, any two of whom might form a court and have common law
jurisdiction.
Three stages of government were provided by the Ordinance, the
first of which, alone, comes within our period, 1790 to 1799.
The first stage, a temporary government, vested the legislative au-
thority in the Governor and judges, who should "adopt and publish
in the district such laws of the original states, civil and criminal as
may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district."
These were to be reported to Congress and continue in force until the
organization of a General Assembly unless disapproved by Congress.
The Legislature might, when formed in the territory, have authority
to alter them as it deemed best.
During this period, the Governor was empowered to appoint all
magistrates and other civil officers in each county and township nec-
essary for the preservation of peace and order. He was empowered
to establish courts, civil and criminal,* and to lay out, into counties and
townships, those parts of the district in which the Indian titles had
been extinguished.
In the first or colonial stage of government, therefore, there was no
provision for representation. The territory was subjected to an abso-
lute government, imposed by an external authority and in which the
people had no share. In place of the royal governor of the colony was
a governor appointed by Congress, and instead of judges appointed by
royal authority, were territorial judges appointed by Congress.
A hasty glance at the rest of the ordinance shows the second stage of
government, a compromise between self government and federal con-
trol. Provision is made for a governor and council appointed by Con-
gress and an elected assembly [franchise based on property and resi-
dence qualifications] when a population of five thousand free male in-
habitants of full age was acquired. When a population of sixty
thousand was reached, the territory was entitled to the third
stage or self-government and admission as a state, f The so-
called articles of compact provided for [i] religious freedom,
[2] all cardinal guarantees of life, liberty and property, [3] encour-
agement of schools and means of education, [4] prohibition of slavery.
By special provision, the French and Canadian inhabitants of the
villages on the Ohio and Mississippi, who had professed themselves
citizens of Virginia were guaranteed "their laws and customs, now in
force among them relative to the descent and conveyance of property."|
*For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force
in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal, the governor shall make
proper division thereof."— Ordinance of 1787.
tProfessor E. B. Greene, Lectures.
tMacDonald, Select Documents. 22. Journals of Congress, XII and XIII, 58.
28o
February i, 1788, the officers for the Northwest Territory were ap-
pointed by Congress. General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the ter-
ritory, was a Scotchman, educated at the University of Edinburg. He
had seen military service as a British soldier in the French and Indian
War, and as an American soldier in the American Revolution. He was
president of the Continental Congress in 1786 when the Ordinance for
the Northwest Territory became a law,§ and was now entrusted with
its execution. Winthrop Sargent was appointed secretary; Samuel
Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Cleves Symmes,
judges.
The Governor first occupied himself with the settlement of the
Indian problems of the Northwest Territory, but before the end of the
year, he and the judges assembled at Marietta, [which had been estab-
lished in April by some of the members of the Ohio Land Company]
and, in their legislative capacity, adopted the laws, relating chiefly to the
establishment and regulation of the militia, organization of the courts
and rules of procedure, and definition of crimes and punishments. The
whipping post and pillory occupied a prominent place in the punish-
ment for crime, and cursing and swearing were strongly discouraged.
This code was not drawn up, however, without long and heated discus-
sions as to the limitations and powers of this legislative body. St.
Clair stood for strict construction of the ordinance, believing they were
entitled only to "adopt * * * laws of the original States," and that
laws could be found in the codes of the different states to cover all
cases which might arise. f The judges, nevertheless, insisted that it
"ought to be liberally expounded," since it was meant for the public
good and there were exigencies in a colonial government which could
not be met by any existing laws in the old states. J The judges gained
their point and laws were framed which had no counterpart in any of
the existing codes.
The years 1788 and 1789 passed by and still St. Clair was occupied
with the Indian problems and unable to leave for the Mississippi Val-
ley to establish the promised government. Frequent appeals from Illi-
nois came to Congress and to Major Hamtramck at Vincennes. Con-
gress repeatedly urged St. Clair to go as soon as possible to Illinois,
but he was detained at Marietta by the negotiations with the Indians.
During these years, Kaskaskia reached her lowest depths. Factions
and internal strife, increased by racial antagonism and foreign intri-
gues, caused the dissolution of the temporary court established at Kas-
kaskia in 1787. The general anarchy resulting from the overthrow of
government and the circulation of the report that all slaves would be
freed when the promised government was established in Illinois,
caused a general emigration of the majority of the inhabitants of Kas-
kaskia across the river to the Spanish shore. As a result, Kaskaskia in
1790 had a population of only forty-five families [of which five were
American], and about eighty-two additional militiamen [of which fif-
teen or sixteen were American], showing a decrease of over seventy-
JSmith. St. Clair Papers, I.
tSmith. St. Clair Papers, II, 67. tibid, 69.
<^.
GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR,
Governor of the Northwest Territory.
28l
five per cent during the years 1783- 1790.* Prairie du Rocherf had less
than two-thirds its population of 1783. Cahokia, however, had main-
tained its strong government and, in 1790, had a population of over one
hundred families [almost entirely French] and also drew under its pro-
tection the small American villages of Bellefontaine and Grand Ruis-
seau.;]:
In this state of affairs. Governor St. Clair found Illinois when he
arrived in Kaskaskia, March 5, 1790. Many problems were forced
upon the attention of the Governor. One of the most important ques-
tions for which the people demanded a definite and immediate explana-
tion was the status of slaves in Illinois. Slavery had existed in Illinois
since the early part of the eighteenth century. Virginia, in 1779, had
guaranteed all the rights and titles of the inhabitants, and, in the deed
of cession of 1784, the French inhabitants were again confirmed in
their titles and possessions. Yet the Ordinance of 1787 had promised
that there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the
territory. This clause had caused a good deal of alarm among the
Firench slave-holders and caused many to emigrate to the Spanish
shore. Tardiveau, agent of the French inhabitants, had discussed tha
provision with several members of Congress and pointed out the con-
sternation it would produce among the inhabitants of the Illinois coun-
try." He pointed out the illegality of an "ex-post facto law, the oper-
ation of which would deprive a considerable number of citizens of
their property, acquired and enjoyed before they were under the domin-
ion of the United States. These members "sensible of the justice of
my statement, * * * remarked that the intention of the obnoxious
resolution had been solely to prevent the future importation of slaves
into the Federal country; that it was not meant to affect the rights of
the ancient inhabitants and promised to have a clause inserted in it ex-
planatory of its real meaning, sufficient to ease the apprehensions of
the people."§
St. Clair, realized the importance of pacifying the remaining French
inhabitants and the desirability of inducing those who had emigrated
to the Spanish side to return, || and so accepted the interpretation of the
slavery provision as it had been explained to the Illinois people by
Tardiveau.
The settlement of land claims and other problems occupied the
attention of the Governor until April 27, when he issued a proclama-
tion creating the county of St. Clair, which comprised a large part of
the present state of Illinois. Its boundaries were defined as "Begin-
ning at the mouth of the little Michilmackinack River, running thence
southerly in a direct line to the mouth of the little river about Fort
Massac, on the Ohio River, thence with the Ohio to its junction with
the Mississippi ; thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois
River, and so up the Illinois River to the place of beginning.^
*Chicago Historical Society Coll. IV. 222.
+A small French villaere some twelve miles north of Kaskaskia.
tSee Alvord. Illinois Hist Coll. II. Introduction CXL and CXLV.
§Smith. St. Clair Papers, II. 117.
llSmith. St. flair Papers. II, 175.
Iflbid, 165. Note.
282
The people of Illinois were subjected to a double authority, local
and territorial. The highest or territorial court consisted of the three
judges appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the
Senate. This might be termed a federal court since its judges were
appointed and paid by the federal government. Besides its legisla-
tive functions, the territorial court was vested with original and ap-
pellate jurisdiction in all civil, criminal, and capital cases. It was a
court of last resort, having power to revise and reverse the decisions
of all other tribunals in the territory, while its own proceedings could
not be reversed or set aside even by the Supreme Court of the United
States. It sat in Cincinnati in March, Marietta in October and in the
western country whenever the judges saw fit to designate.* The sal-
ary of the judges was only eight hundred xlollars and the hardships of
travel in the wilderness were so great that the judges seldom reached
Illinois.
The county courts established in Illinois by St. Clair consisted of a
court of common pleas, general quarter sessions, justices of the peace,
and a probate court, as provided by the territorial laws of 1788.! St.
Clair said a good deal of his difficulty was in finding men capable of fill-
ing the official positions, and this was doubtless true as there had been
an almost continuous stream of emigration across the Mississippi ever
since Illinois had come under American control. Yet the courts, as
finally established, consisted of men of prominence, judicial experience,
and some who had seen something of the world. They, also, repre-
sented fairly the dififerent racial elements as well as the dififerent parts
of the country, and, although there were few Americans holding offi-
cial positions, there were men in the courts who would represent their
interests.
The court of common pleas consisted of five justices appointed and
commissioned by the governor. They met four timesj a year and ex-
ercised jurisdiction in all civil courts with right of appeal to the ter-
ritorial court. Jean Baptiste Barbau, who had had the longest public
career, was a member of the French gentry, about sixty-eight years
old, a prominent inhabitant of Prairie du Rocher, and had served in
the courts of the British and Virginia periods.§ In 1786, he became
lieutenant of the county, used his influence for law and order and en-
couraged the Kaskaskians in establishing their government in 1787.II
Antoine Girardin, was also a Frenchman and one of the most promi-
nent citizens of Prairie du Pont,^ of which he was commandant. He
had served as justice in Clark's court, and in that of the district of
Cahokia during the years 1779- 1790, acting as president of the court
the last years.** John Edgar was a native of Ireland, an offi-
cer of the British navy on the Great Lakes, and resided at
Detroit when the American Revolution broke out. His sympathy
♦Burnet's Notes. 63.
tSmith. St. Clair Papers. II, 80. Note list of laws.
t According to the territorial law of Nov. 6, 1790. See Dillon, Indiana, 298. List of laws.
§Kaskaskia Records. Political Papers. May. 19. 1779.
II Ibid May 18, 1787.
IIA small village about a mile south of Cahokia,
•♦111. Hist. Coll,, II, 632. Note 100.
283
for the American cause, led to his arrest and imprisonment, from which
he escaped and in 1784, arrived in Kaskaskia where he proved the
mainstay of the inhabitants during the troublous times of the following
six years. Philip Engel was a native of Germany, and served as justice
in the court of the District of Cahokia during the years 1785 to 1790.*
John Dumoulin was a native of Switzerland, who, if we may accept
Reynolds, was a man of some education and legal training, f WilHam
St. Clair, appointed prothonotary and clerk of the court, was the
youngest son of Earl of Roslin, a former resident of Detroit, and a
cousin of Governor St. Clair and came to Illinois in 1790.
The court of General Quarter Sessions had much the same char-
acteristic as the EngHsh Sessions exercising criminal jurisdiction, [in
cases not involving life, long imprisonment or forfeiture of property],
and general administrative authority in the country. This court con-
sisted of John Edgar, Philip Engel, Antonine Girardin and Antonie
Louviere. The personnel of the common pleas and quarter sessions
was much the same, the first three men serving in a double capacity.
Louvieres, was a prominent citizen of Prairie du Rocher and a mem-
ber of the court of Kaskaskia from 1779-1781.I
Five justices of the peace, three Frenchmen and two Americans,
were appointed for the ordinary duties of a peace magistrate out of
sessions, with authority to determine petty offenses punishable by fine.
Francois Trottier, Baptiste Saucier, and Francois Janis, were members
of the French gentry. § The first two had served as justices in the
court of Cahokia, and Janis in the court of Kaskaskia during the Vir-
ginia period. Nicholas Smith was an American inhabitant of Kan-
kaskia in 1781 and later served as justice of the peace in Bellefontaine
and Grand Ruisseau. || James Piggot was a native of Connecticut who
had served in the Revolutionary War and followed Clark to the
Illinois country.
Barthelemy Tardiveau, a new comer in Kaskaskia, was made pro-
bate judge, an office which Governor St. Clair regarded as requiring
"the most delicate consideration as the whole property of the people
is eventually involved in their being duly executed."^ Little is known
of Tardiveau's early life. He had lived sometime in Holland** and came
to the western country about 1780,! f where he and his brother Pierre,
♦Illinois Hist. Coll., II, 631. Note 631. . ., ,
f'Being a classic scholar in Europe, he understood well the civil law and was a
good lawyer, although he did nor practice in the courts. He practiced law to great
advantage in his business and was well versed in the science of land speculation."
Reynolds' Pioneer History, 173. John Reynolds, who came to Illinois in 1800, a boy
of twelve and the son of a Tennessee frontiersman, has left in his books the only avail-
able information concerning some of the early settlers of Illinois. Reynolds was not a
critical or even a reliable historian, and his statements must be accepted with this in
mind. His youth during this period, his narrow experience, and the long interval
between the time of which he writes and the time he wrote his books, make his his-
tories untrustworthy. They are chiefly valuable in that they probably reflect the senti-
ment and impressions of the average American settler in Illinois.
JKaskaskia Records.
§Alvord, 111. Hist. Coll. II, Introduction see index.
II Ibid, CXXII. 307.
HSmith, St. Clair Papers. II, 67.
*'Menard Collection, Tardiveau Papers, 1796. . ^ ,, ^ • t-t ,
+t"General Archives of the Indies, Seville." A transcript in possession of Mr. Louis Houck
Cape Girardeau, Mo., dated 1792, says Tardiveau had been in ' this country" fifteen years.
There is a receipt in the Menard Collection of the 'Tardiveau fieres" dated 1784.
284
as the "Tardiveau freres," were engaged in the peltry trade. In 1787,
Barthelemy had escorted Col. Harmar on his tour of inspection through
the Illinois settlements and impressed Harmar as "a sensible, well-
informed gentleman, as well if not better acquainted with the western
country (particularly the Illinois) than any one who has ever been
from thence to Congress,"* though the French inhabitants of Kaskas-
kia declared he knew nothing of actual conditions there. f During the
next three years he was the messenger and spokesman of the French
inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley to Congress. Both men seem to
have entered to some extent into the agitation over the Mississippi
question. J Barthelemy was in communication the next few years with
prominent Frenchmen§ and with the Spanish government at Madrid ||
and New Orleans^ regarding French colonization schemes in the Mis-
sissippi Valley. His strength of character is shown by the way in
which he ingratiated himself into the favor of such men as Ham-
tramck,** Harmar,ft Governor St. Clair,JI and Governor Caron-
delet,§§ the Spanish Governor at New Orleans.
William Biggs, an inhabitant of Cahokia was appointed sheriff of
the county. His capture and captivity under the Kickapoos in 1788
and final ransom made him a hero among the people.
In establishing civil government in Illinois, St. Clair abandoned, from
necessity, the principle for which he had contended so strongly in the
controversies with the territorial judges. In 1787, he had insisted on
strict construction of the Ordinance in legislative matters, but, in 1790,
he found himself forced to adopt loose construction for the administra-
tive problems of the Illinois country. He found it impossible to estab-
lish the courts according to law because of the sparsity of population,
the distance of the villages from each other, and an insufificient popu-
lation in any to make of it a distinct county. Justice, he believed, could
not be administered if the sessions of the courts were confined to any
one place. He, therefore, divided the county into three judicial dis-
tricts, "though not strictly warranted by law" and distributed the
judges so as "to make the holding of that court practicable." || || He
ordered that a session of the court of Quarter Session and Probate
Court should be held in each district, but all as sessions of the same
•Smith. St. Clair Papers II, 30.
tAlvord, 111. Hist. Coll.. II, Introduction CXXXVII,
^September 17, 1787, Charles Gratiot wrote Barthelemy Tardiveau to instruct the messenger
with whom he had sent letters to General Wilkinson not to send them but in case he has, ' 'If
you see the General tell him to send no one here for the affairs which he proposed to me. as I
shall not be at home". (Menard Coll. Tardiveau Papers.) Pierre Tardiveau was appointed in-
terpreter-in-chief by Michaux, the French scientist, in the service of Genet. 1793.
§In a letter. April 17. 1793 of Deiassus, Tardiveau and Audrian to Carondelet, they say Tar-
diveau will atttempt to secure the aid of ' 'his friends. Comte de Brehan, (formerly a minister
of France) and the Marquise de Brehan" in establishing a French colony on the Spanish shore.
—Transcript from General Archives of the Indies, in possession of Mr. Louis Houck.
IIB. Tardiveau to Count Aranda, July 17. 1792, presenting French colonization schemes.
Transcript from General Archives of the Indies. Seville, belonging to Mr. Houck.
IlLetters dated April 10, 17, 26, Sept. 21. 1793, in possession of Mr. Houck and the Missouri
Historical Society. St. Louis. Menard Papers. Tardiveau Collection, 1793.
♦♦Menard Collection. Tardiveau Papers. Audrian to Deiassus.
ttDennv's Military Journal, 463. Smith, St. Clair, Papers II, 32.
ttSmith. St. Clair Papers. II, 409.
§§Menard Collection, Tardiveau Papers. Tardiveau to Audrian.
IlllSmith, St. Clair Papers, 172.
285
court. The probate judge and prothonotary were directed to appoint
deputies and open offices in each district. John Edgar was appointed
chief justice of Kaskaskia, Jean Baptiste Barbau of Prairie du
Rocher, and John DumouHn, of Cahokia. In actual practice, the three
districts naturally tended toward a more or less separate and independ-
ent existence as during the British and Virginia periods. Early writers*
say that while the judges and sheriff had jurisdiction throughout the
county, the citizens could not be sued out of their district, writs were
dated at these three villages and ran within their respective districts.
The records of legal transactions, such as sales of land, marriage con-
tracts, promissory notes, etc., for all three villages are found in one
common record bookf which shows still the recognition of the princi-
ple of a centralized government.
This act of the Governor was criticized both by Jefferson, Secretary
of State, and by Washington. Jefferson regarded it as "beyond the
competence of the executive of said government * * amounted in fact
to laws and as such could only flow from its regular legislature."^
Washington wrote St. Clair that although "the necessity of the case
offered an excuse for having exceeded your proper powers," more
circumspection should be used in the future.§
In virtue of the Governor's proclamation of April 27, and under St.
Clair's supervision, the courts of common pleas and quarter session
assembled at Cahokia, May 1790. Commissions of the justices were
read and the courts organized. || Not until June 12, did Francois Car-
bonneaux, the notary of the Virginia period, transfer to William St.
Clair the records and public papers of the recorder's office at Kas-
kaskia.^ St. Clair's administrative duties in Illinois, however, were
cut short by the increasing hostilties of the Indians throughout the
Northwest. On June 11, 1790, he left the Illinois country for Fort
Harmar and the responsibility of governments fell upon the newly
organized courts.
Our knowledge of the court of Kaskaskia over which John Edgar
presided as chief justice is, at present, exceedingly meagre, although it
is possible that further investigations may throw more light on the sub-
ject.** William St. Clair, clerk of the court, wrote in June 1793, "we
have no organized government whatever. Our courts are in a deplorable
state ; no order is kept in the interior and many times not held. Prairie
du Rocher had no court this some time, and Kaskaskia has failed be-
fore. The magistrates have taken it upon themselves to set it going
'Reynolds, Pioneer History, 147. Davidson and Stuv6, History of Illinois, 213.
tRecord A, of St. Clair County.
IJefferson's Writings, (Ford ed.) V. 260.
SSmith. St. Clair Papers, II. 199.
UCourt Docket, May 1790, January, 1791; Issuing Docket, Common Pleas, Court house at
Belleville, Illinois.
HRecord A, St. Clair County. Belleville, 111.
**There is in the circuit clerk's office at Chester, 111., a large box containing a great collec-
tion of papers bound in bundles, regardless of date, character or subject, and ranging in time
from 1734 to 1860 (and later), which may possibly contain information of value. These have
never been carefully examined, and few of them opened or unfolded. A cursory glance through
them shows that they consist of all kinds of court and legal papers. At present there are no
record books for the period between 1782-1797 in the collection at Chester, although the court
records from 1800 are very full and apparently quite complete.
286
again. I think they will again fail. The prospect is gloomy."*
In the light of this letter, Kaskaskia would seem to have re-
peated, during these first five years, its history of the Virginia
period. f Tardiveau, probate judge, went to New Orleans in 1792
to negotiate a colonial and commercial scheme with the Spanish
government, returned in 1793, gave up his position, and moved
to New Madrid on the Spanish shore to advance the estab-
lishment of a Spanish^ colony at this post. The weakness of the
government at Kaskaskia may be partially due to the fact that during
these five years, the government of the county seems to have centered
in Cahokia which, again as during the Virginia period, enforced law
and order, and maintained its courts, transacting a surprising amount
of judicial and administrative business.
The records of the Court of Quarter Sessions are the more complete
and show this court sitting and transacting business every year during
this period. § In the court of Quarter Sessions both the grand jury
and traverse [petty] jury were employed. The court had a two fold
character, judicial and administrative. It concerned itself with criminal
matters which came before it and also the various subjects relating to
the public interests and general welfare of the community, such as trade
with the Indians, general oversight of roads, fences, bridges, care
of the poor, appropriations for public officers, licenses for merchants,
traders, etc. We find in the records of the quarter sessions an order
for the translation of the territorial laws into the French language in
order that the French justices might understand and interpret them ;
again in 1794, an order for holding in the court room a school for in-
struction of the youth for one month according to a petition from the
inhabitants.
The records of the court of common pleas are less complete, but
still show the dispatch and trial of a great many cases. The records
for the district of Cahokia show no use of the grand jury in the court
of common pleas. All the cases are between individuals and only
the traverse or petty jury is employed. Although the records of
Kaskaskia for this period are as yet too few to generalize on this
question, those of the next decade, 1800-1810, show the use of the
grand jury in the trial of cases of the United States versus individuals
as well as the petty jury in cases between individuals in the court of
common pleas.
It is of interest to notice that the records of the two courts, com-
mon pleas and quarter sessions were kept distinct from each other
and in separate record books. So, although some of the judges
served in both courts, there seems to have been no attempt to coalesce
the duties of the two into one court.
*Smith, St. Clair Papers. II. 311.
+Por detailed discussion see Alvord, 111. Historical Coll. II, Introduction.
tMenard Coll., Tardiveau Papers.
^Court UecoTds of St. Clair County— Court lof Quarter Sessions— 1190, May, July, August;
1791, January; 1792, March, May, Aug., Sept., Oct., Dec; 1793, Jan., May, Aug., Oct.; 1794, Jan.
Feb.. May. Aug.; 1795, July; 1796, Jan., May, July, Oct.; 1797, Jan., Feb., April, May, June.
July. Aug.; 1798, Feb., April, July, Oct.; 1799, Feb., April and July.' Court of Common Pleas—
1790, April, Oct.; 1791, May, July. Aug.. Oct.; 1792. ; 1793, July: 1794, Feb.; 1795, July. Oct;
1796, Feb.. April, July; 1797, Feb., April, July, Oct.; 1798, Feb., April, July, Oct.; 1799, Feb.,
April, July.— Records of St. Clair county court house, Belleville, 111.
28;
The first sessions of the county courts were held in a private dwelling
house in Cahokia. In 1793, this building with its surrounding tract
of land was purchased by the judges, Antoine Girardin, John Du-
moulin and Philip Engel, for one thousand dollars and converted into
a court house and prison in compliance with the territorial law of 1792,
directing the establishment of a court house and county jail.
In the meantime, the people of Illinois were not forgotten by St.
Clair and the judges, who, in 1790, had passed a law providing that
sessions of the general or territorial court should be held at specified
times at Vincennes [Knox county], Kaskaskia [St. Clair county],
Cincinnati [Hamilton county], and Marietta [Washington county].*
Three years had slipped by but in April, 1793, St. Clair wrote to Judge
George Turner, one of the territorial judges, tellingf him that the
time for holding the session of the supreme or territorial court in the
western counties was near at hand, and asking him if he could be
there in time for that purpose. J Judge Turner promised to go, and
reached Kaskaskia in October, 1794, although the month of June was
the time provided by law for the holding court in Kaskaskia.
Judge George Turner, the first territorial judge to hold court in
Illinois,§ was apparently a man of strong convictions which he would
carry out regardless of existing conditions or public opinion. While
at Vincennes, he had become involved in a quarrel with Judge Vander-
burgh, judge of the probate court, over the status of some negroes.
In attempting to carry out his views that they were "free by the Con-
stitution of the Territory * * * and now held * * * ^s
slaves," he had been defied by the inhabitants, and, upon attempting
to punish the offenders, had met with forcible resistance. |1
Probably in a resentful frame of mind toward these French in-
habitants of the territory. Judge Turner arrived at Kaskaskia. The
government of Kaskaskia, if we may accept William St. Clair's report,
no doubt presented a most discouraging aspect and Turner attempted
to right things according to his own ideas in a peremptory and arbi-
trary way. He ordered that the county records hitherto kept by
William St. Clair, be moved at once to Kaskaskia, which he claimed
was the county seat. St. Clair resisted the order, and the judge
removed the records from his control, placing them in charge of a
Mr. Jones. St. Clair then sent in his resignation to Secretary Sar-
gent.*! Turner insisted on holding court at Kaskaskia "unknown to and
contrary to the laws of this territory," so the inhabitants claimed, "and
at the extremity of the population of the country and compelling a
great number of the good people of the county to attend thereat, as
well suitors as jurors and civil officers of the county, thereat absent-
ing themselves from their abodes, and exposing many families to the
ravages of hostile Indians, and to the great loss and damage of the
•Dillon, Indiana. 297. Territorial Statutes, 1790-2.
tAppointed to fill vacancy caused by death of Judge Varnum, Jan. 10, 1789.
tSmith. St. Clair Papers, II, 311.
§So far as present records reveal to us.
llSmith. St, Clair Papers, II, 318. 325, 326, 342.
Hlbid, 340.
288
good people by heavy charges that attended the majority travelling
sixty-six miles to attend that court. Heavy fines [were] set and levied
by the said court * * * and the people grieved in various other
ways by suits and prosecutions in the same court, attended with very
heavy charges." He denied "us, as we conceived, the rights reserved
to us by the Constitution of the Territory, to-wit, the laws and cus-
toms heretofore used in regard to descent and conveyance of property,
in which the French and Canadian inhabitants conceive the language
an essential."*
Turner also meddled in Indian and trade affairs, confiscating the
boat and cargo of Drouard, an old French settler in Illinois, on the
ground that he was carrying on illegal trade, f Other serious charges
were made against Turner,^ and whether true or not, the fact remained
that the people of Illinois were soon in a turmoil, and had received an
unfortunate impression of the justice and dignity of the government
which Turner represented.
Governor St. Clair attempted to restore justice and appease the in-
habitants by reprimanding Judge Turner and disavowing his acts.
He ordered St. Clair to take immediate possession of the county
records, since he, a^ the only legal notary, was responsible for them
and the office of register of deeds could not be executed by deputy.
Governor St. Clair did not support Turner in his belief that the govern-
ment should center in Kaskaskia§ since there was "no one acknow-
ledged county town," and showed an extreme lack of sympathy with
the judge,]! even suggesting to William St. Clair that it "might not be
improper if a petition to Congress were set on foot, setting forth that
Judge Turner has held a session of the Supreme Court at which some
oppressive things were done, contrary to law ;" and since, according
to law, court was to be held in Kaskaskia in June, Turner's "proceed-
ings are all void in themselves ; for a court though held by the proper
officers, if held at different time than that appointed by law, is in
truth no court."
Governor St. Clair wrote to Edmund Randolph, "This is a very ex-
tended country and from a variety of causes would require the eye and
hand of the executive in every part of it, but as that is impossible at all
times. Judge Turner seems to take some of the trouble upon him-
self. The country on the Mississippi and Wabash is now in that sit-
♦American State Papers, Miscellaneous, I, 151.
tSmith, St. Clair Papers, II. 372.
tAmerican State Papers, Miscellaneous, I, 151.
§"As there is no law to compel the register to keep the records at any particular
place in the county, and as there are three towns in the county appointed by law for
the sessions of the courts, there is no one in particular the acknowledged county
town. You are therefore at liberty to keep your office in any part of the county that
may not be inconvenient to the people, and Judge Turner was wrong in supposing he
had a power to fix a place, and stili farther wrong in exerting it, to oblige you to
fix it in any particular place." Governor St. Clair to William St. Ciair, June 3, 1795.
Smith, St. Clair Papers, 11., 372.
II In a letter to William St. Clair, Governor St. Clair says: "What happened as
respects yourself need give you no trouble, as the prosecution against you was evi-
dently malicious and evidently calculated to justify his other proceedings against you.
When the proceedings of the court are set aside, which they must be, you may recover
ample damages against ." Smith, St. Clair Papers, 11., 372.
289
uation that the presence of the Governor is indispensable."* He de-
termined to go to IlHnois as soon as possible "to prevent the sub-
version of all order if not its complete ruin."
St. Clair was delayed in Cincinnati for a time by the session of the
territorial legislature which sat from May 29 to August 25, and drew
up an elaborate code of thirty-eight laws adopted from the various
states, f thirty-four of which were taken from the codes of northern
states, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey,
and two from a southern state, Virginia.;}; It was said by a contem-
porary periodical that "in regard to these laws, which • are almost a
literal transcript of the adopted statutes, the legislative power con-
ferred by the Ordinance seems to have been very strictly pursued."§
The former laws were still treated as existing, though their validity
was questioned until 1799, when they were re-enacted by the Legis-
lature on recommendation of the Governor.
The experience of Judge* Turner in Illinois had shown the dangers
of the supplementary statute which made one of the judges of the
territorial court competent to hold court without appeal. St. Clair
wrote to Randolph! urging the repeal of the law and the adoption of
some method by which decisions of the Supreme Court in the territory
could be appealed to the federal court, which would bring the people
into closer connection with and affection for the federal government.^
Governor St. Clair and Judge Symmes set out for the Illinois country
in August and arrived in Kaskaskia in September, 1795. They im-
mediately took up the controversies raised by Turner; some were dis-
missed, the decisions of some cases reversed, and an attempt made to
restore order and tranquility.
Two cases of more than local interest, the murder of some Indians
by inhabitants of Illinois, came before the court of St. Clair and
Symmes. Early in 1795, the band of Whitesides, an inhabitant of
New Design,** and a bitter enemy of the Indians, took by surprise a
camp of Indians and killed a large number. ff In February of the same
year, two Potowattomies under arrest were being taken to jail by the
sheriff when they were attacked near Bellefontaine in broad daylight
and murdered in the presence of the officers. J J Such hostilities intensi-
fied the racial animosity and greatly complicated the difficulties of
General Wayne and other federal officers in the northwest. Wayne
♦Smith, St. Clair Papers, II, 350.
tThe House of Representatives in its last session had passed a bill disapprovinjr all the laws
enacted by this Territorial Legislature, on the ground that "the governor and judges have no
power by the constitution of the government to make laws, but only adopt and publish such
laws of the original states as should appear to them best fitted to the circumstances of the in-
habitants." The Senate rejected the bill, but seemingly on the ground that "as they consid-
ered them all ipso facto void, they thought it improper to declare any of them so by any act of
the legislature" (Smith, St. Clair Papers, II, 350.) The matter of making new laws or adoption
of old ones was still discussed i^ro and cow. but the legislature was henceforth more carefnl in
their legistation and stated from what code each law was taken.
IDillon, Indiana, 375, List of laws.
§Indiana Historical Collections II, 12.
II "The people, " Governor St. Clair wrote, "very generally think it an unsafe sitaation
which they are in. * * it cannot be thought very eligible that the whole property of a country
which may be the subject of legal dispute should be governed by the determination of a single
judge, without the possibility of having that determination reversed."
HAmerican State Papers, Miscellaneous, I, 116.
•*A small American village near Bellefontaine.
ttReynolds, Pioneer History, 154.
tISmith, St. Clair Papers, II, 396.
-19 HS
290
bitterly resented these hostilities in the critical period between the
cessation of hostilities and signing of the treaty of peace between the
whites and Indians and protested repeatedly to St. Clair. St.
Clair and Judge Symmes tried the case of the two Potowattomies
both in Kaskaskia and Cahokia. There was positive evidence against
two men, but so great was the racial antagonism that no bill could be
found against them.* St. Clair concluded that the Whitesides affair
was justified since it was not known in Illinois that an armistice had
taken place and this tribe was at open war with the whites. f He
admitted, though, "had the matter been ever so criminal in nature, it
would have been, I believe, impossible to have brought the acts to
punishments. "J
After five years' trial, St. Clair decided that "whereas the division
of the county of St. Clair into districts has not been found to give
that ease and facility to the administration of justice which was ex-
pected, and the great extent of country tX'Ould render it almost im-
practicable were the courts to be held in one place only, it has therefore
become necessary that it should be divided and a new county erected,"^
The northern county was to retain the name of St. Clair county with
Cahokia as the county seat, and the southern county took the name
of Randolph with Kaskaskia as the county seat.
The division of Illinois into two separate counties required the or-
ganization of new courts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Our knowledge
of the organization of the court of Randolph county is still very small
on account of the few records of this period which have come down
to us. Legal documents of this period are signed by John Edgar or
William Morrison [a wealthy merchant and trader of Kaskaskia]
as judges. It is quite probable that records will even yet be brought
to light which will reveal a well organized court in Kaskaskia during
the years 1795-1800.il
The court of common pleas of St. Clair county as organized by
Governor St. Clair in 1795, consisted of six judges:^ John Dumoulin,
chief justice of the Cahokia district from 1790-1795; James Piggot
and Baptiste Saucier, justices of the peace from 1790-1795; William
St. Clair, clerk of the court from 1790- 1795 ; Shadrack Bond, a native
of Maryland, who had been living in Illinois since 1781.** and
George Atchison (an American inhabitant of New Design.) Wil-
liam St. Clair also held the office of probate judge. W^illiam
Arundel, an Indian trader and inhabitant of Cahokia in the Virginia
period, was made prothonotary. The personnel of the court of quarter
sessions was the same with the addition of William Biggs, first sheriff
of St. Clair county, and James Lemen, one of the early American
♦Smith., St. Clair Papers. II. 396. tibid, 375. tibid, 396.
SSmith, St. Clair Papers II, 345. Note.
llThis supposition is based on the fact that the full and quite complete records of the next
decade, 1800-1809, for both common pleas and quarter sessions, show these courts consisting of
many of the old inhabitants, such as John Edgar, William Morrison, Pierre Menard, Jean
Baptiste Barbau, etc., who might be supposed to have carried on the government equally as
well in the preceding five years. A court record for Kaskaskia under the Indiana Territorial
government shows the court of common pleas to have been sitting in Kaskaskia in April and
July, 1798.
KRecords in court house at Belleville, 111.
♦•Kaskaskia Records, Aug. 27-31, 1781.
291
settlers in Illinois. This list of justices shows a greater monopoly of
the official positions by Americans than in 1790, only one Frenchman
having a place in the government.
In spite of the apparent efficiency and regularity of the courts, an
element of weakness is found in the custom of allowing the judges
to sue and be sued by the inhabitants. In 170c. John Dumoulin, chief
justice of the court at Cahokia, was involved in three law suits, and
Jean Baptiste Barbau came over from Prairie du Rocher, to preside
over the court before which Dumoulin was tried. The decisions are
interesting as showing the attempt to maintain justice and uphold the
authority of the court.*
In February of 1796, three of the judges, Dumoulin, William St.
Clair and James Piggott, were involved in law suits, which came be-
fore the court of this session and which would seem to undermine the
efficiency and even the justice of the court.
The code of laws of 1795 also provided for the establishment of an
orphan's court for the probate business of the county. The early
records of this court from 1796- 1798 are missing but an old index
furnishes evidence that the court was sitting during these years, f The
existing records show two sessions of this court for 1798 J and three
sessions for I799.§ Judging from these records, the court would seem
to have consisted of any three of the county justices, || presided over
by William St. Clair, as "Judge of the Probate." During the next
eight years, 1800- 1808, the court held regularly four sessions each year,
transacting purely probate business.
During this period, a new administrative county court, a Court of
Commissioners and Assessors, was established in St. Clair county.^
This court consisted of two commissioners, Joseph Kinney and Jean
Francois, and three assessors, John Griffin, Michel Squires and Nicholas
Jarrot, inhabitants of St. Clair county. Isaac Darneille, a native of
Maryland and a lawyer of Cahokia, was appointed clerk. This court
took over the financial business of the county and concerned itself
with the payment of the salaries of county officials, individual debts
against the county, assessment of property, levying of taxes, regulation
of the price of peltry to be received as taxes. The record of only one
*The case of Joseph Marie vs. John Dumoulin; Marie, a French inhabitant of Cahokia.
brought suit against Dumoulin, Iwho ' 'under colour and pretense of his authority as magistrate
committed the plaintiff into the?custody of an executive officer, who, by the (judge's order 'did
then and there vpith force and arms, assault and beat, wound and evilly treat the plaintiff' " who
was the same day, '' without any reasonable or probable cause" committed to the county jail
where he was detained a long time. Dumoulin showed that while he was exercising his func-
tions of justice of the peace, Marie had behaved in his presence in a contemptuous, indecent,
menacing, and insulting manner, refusing to keep silent or to suffer the said John * * to
proceed in the execution of his duty * * * also said to * * * John while * * * in the
exercise of his • * * office, in such contemptuous and insulting manner, when he was ordered
to keep silence, that he * * * did not care for * * * John, nor for any person that would
take * * * John's part, " whereupon Dumoulin ordered the sheriff to commit Marie to the
county jail. The attempt of Dumoulin to maintain the authority and dignity of the court was
sustained. Dumoulin was acquitted and Marie ordered to pay costs.
A charge was brought against Dumoulin by John Guitarre. a Frenchman, for the arbitrary
detention of his property by Dumoulin. and in this case the decision was against Dumoulin in
favor of the Frenchman, as given by an American jury. (Common pleas of St. Clair county.
Record A.)
tHoflman, Civil Government of Illinois in History of St. Clair county, 82.
tSessions for 1798— April, July. ^Sessions for 1799— Feb., May and August.
County Rec-ord, April 14, 1798— June 16, 1817.
NApril 14, 1798— John Dumoulin, Shadrack Bond, George Atchison, Judges. Feb. 8, 1799—
John Dumoulin, James Piggot, George Atchison, Judges. May 9. 1799 — John Dumoulin,
Shadrach Bond, Atchison, Judges.
UPerhaps in Randolph county also, although we have no record of it.
292
session of this court during ine years 1795- 1800, has been found so
far. This shows the court assembled at the court house of Cahokia,
June 20, 1798. The court still existed under the government of the
Indiana territory, but the assessors apparently dropped out and the
work of the court was carried on by two, sometimes three, commis-
sioners.*
In 1798, the Northwest Territory was found to have the requisite
number of inhabitants [five thousand white male inhabitants] to entitle
it to the second grade of government provided by the Ordinance.
Governor St. Clair issued a proclamation ordering elections for rep-
resentatives to the first General Assembly to be held at Cincinnati,
February 4, 1799.! Only freeholders of fifty acres of land, a citizen
of one of the states, or a resident of the district for two years, were
entitled to vote, while a representative must be a freeholder of two
hundred acres, a citizen of one of the states, or a resident of the district
for three years.
Shadrack Bond and Isaac Darneille, both Americans, were candi-
dates in St. Clair county. Out of a population which in 1800 numbered
1.255, 0^6 hundred eighty-five votes were cast, illustrating the pro-
portion of the people who participated in the benefits of the new
government. The record of the election reveals the character of the
))roperty-owning class in 1799, showing fifty-eight old French in-
habitants, twenty-five recent French settlers and one hundred two
Americans registered at the polls, and making a majority of nineteen
American voters. This shows a large decrease of the old French in-
habitants or an indifference in political affairs, perhaps both. The
delay in the confirmation of the militia claims also excluded a good
many militiamen from the franchise qualifications. John Edgar was
elected to represent Randolph county.
The Assembly of twenty-two representatives, sixteen from Ohio,
three from Michigan, two from Illinois, and one Indiana, met at Cin-
cinnati and nominated ten men to be submitted to the President for
the appointment of the legislative counsel. From the list submitted.
President Adams chose four from Ohio and one from Indiana, Henry
Vanderburgh, § president of the counsel, giving Ohio a predominance
also, in the counsel.
On September 16, 1799, both houses of the Legislature met at Cin-
cinnati and the government of the Northwest Territory passed from
the colonial into the semi or partially self-governing stage. The rep-
resentatives of the people had now acquired the right to legislate for
the people, but still subject to the absolute veto of an executive who
was imposed upon them by an external power and over whom they had
no control.
♦Sessions of court in 1802— August. Sept., Oct. 1803— July, Oct. Record of Court of Com-
missioners and Assessors. Belleville. 111.
tSmith, St. Clair Papers, II, 438. ^History of St. Clair county, 70.
§Smith, St. Clair Papers II, 441.
293
JOHN RICHMAN,* A TYPICAL BACKWOODSMAN.
A personal sketch by Dr. H. Rutherford, Oakland, 111.
Looking backward is the office and duty of history. Its labors are
to mark the milestones of time as they pass, and to grave upon them
the record of days, of years and of ages, in their successive chronology.
Looking backward, recalling a youthful epoch, the reminiscenses of a
past generation, is the pleasing task of old age, and it is in that line
I would ask attention to a few incidents connected with the life and
character of a noted man in the early history of Douglas county.
It was back in February, 1841, that a settler on Brush Creek, three
miles southeast of Oakland, had a sale. He had had hard luck as he
termed it. He had followed the rainbow to Illinois, but now the bow
of promise was in Missouri, resting over the new Platte Purchase.
There was snow on the ground, and taking a seat in a friend's sleigh,
we made our wa}'^ through the jack-oak brush to the place of sale.
Being a new comer myself, my object was to make acquaintance.
But few people were present and a few more from various points kept
dropping in; notably two from the head of the timber, one of whom
was Captain James Bagley.
The sale of old barrels and other trumpery went slowly on. People
cared more to group and gossip. A man in one of the groups near me,
looking up the road, enquired, "Who's that ?" No one knew the strange
looking person approaching. Captain Bagley being appealed to, said:
"That's old John Richman." Mr. Richman was a man of sixty years,
six feet high, strongly built and in vigorous health. He carried a long
rifle — a deer gun — with a leather guard over the lock. His rig and
costume was unique and picturesque even for that day ; a full hunter's
outfit. He wore no hat, but instead a knitted woolen cap of white, red
and green bands, with a white tassel at the top. His hunting shirt
was of walnut jeans fringed along the seams and skirts, and around
the neck and cape. His pants, of the same material, were held up by
a draw string and secured at the ankles by deer leather leggins, bound
by cross thongs fastened to his moccasins. He wore a leather belt in
which was stuck a small tomahawk. To his shoulder strap was at-
tached a pouch, a powder horn and a small butcher knife in a sheatji.
His moccasins had sole leather bottoms fastened by thongs. He was
clean shaved, and his shirt and clothing were bright and clean ; a
*This paper was contributed to the transactions through the courtesy of Miss Anna Ruther-
ford of Oakland, Illinois, daughter of the late Dr. Rutherford who made the copy from a Manu-
script in her possession: and of superintendent G. J. Koons of Mason City, through whose
good ofQces it was secured for publication.
294
cleanly man by the way, and I never saw him in any other condition.
After greeting, he stated that one of his pet deer had escaped
from his park three weeks ago. He had expected it to return, but,
instead, found it had gone down the timber. He was sure it would
come back in four weeks time, but fearing somebody might shoot
the "critter," he had started out to find it and bring it back if alive.
He had staid last night with his friend, Andrew Gwinn, and hearing
of this sale, he had come by, hoping to hear of it. It was a doe with
a red flannel band on its neck and with a small brass bell held by a
leather strap. He added "If I could only hear one tinkle of that bell,
I'd know it." No one had sten or heard of it, but all assured him
that nobody would kill it, knowing from the band that it was a pet.
Some one suggested that as the truant was going down the river, she
might still be on the tramp, and by this time be in Jasper county. He
shook his head with a decisive "No! She will not go more than two
miles below here." He gave no reason for the opinion, but he no
doubt knew what we did not know, that the range limit for the deer
was twenty miles from the place of birth and breeding. I would
remark here in parenthesis that all animals — man excepted — have their
range limits. Naturalists tell us that the deer and antelope species
have twenty miles, the lion and tiger ten, the horse five, the wolf four,
the cow three, the hog two, the dog one, the cat a half, and the rabbit,
like the hen and the quail, spend their lives on forty acres. Some one
else inquired, "How will you find that deer among the brush, the
thickets, and the long grass?" Holding up a turkey call-bone he
said, "Every day when I brought her her feed, I called her up with
that bone ; if ever she hears it again she will know it and come to me.
She will know me, too, and let me lead her home. If she is alive I
will find her and find her down there." Pointing to the southwest.
I had read with the ardor of youth "Gertrude of Wyoming' 'and the
Leather Stocking Tales. I had heard of Mr. Richman before and now
realized that there stood before me a type of a mountain hunter, more
perfect perhaps than any that fiction had ever made. Shouldering his
gun, he went on his way. We watched him with interest till he dis-
appeared among the trees in his loving search for the lost doe.
It subsequently transpired that he made his way to the neighbor-
hood of St. Omar, two miles north of Ashmore. Here, he decided, was
the deer's boundary limits, here he began his search, as I was told
afterwards by several of the residents. He staid two days roaming
over the barrens and river blufifs, sounding his call-bone as he went, but
no doe ever came to him. He became convinced that some one had
killed it, and the wretch who had done it lived near by. In his anger
he told several people what he thought and that if he ever found out
who did it, he would put a bullet through him if it was seven years
afterwards. He made and repeated this savage declaration in the
house of David Golliday, Sr., unaware of the fact that at that time
the band and bell of his doe was then hidden within a few feet of him.
A few days previous one of the Golliday boys had brought in the dead
body of the truant doe, with the red band and bell on it; knowing
how mean and dirty the act was, the family kept it secret. The old
295
man's threats terrified them so much that the bell was kept in hiding
for several years, till it was known that the ferocious old hunter was
dead.
In the summer of 1842 I happened to pass by the house of Mr.
Richman. His son David and his young wife were living there. The
old man, being a widower, lived with them. I was called in to minister
to a sick child. The house was a rudely constructed affair. It had
a puncheon floor, an outside stick chimney, and the house corners
were untrimmed. It stood by the calamus patch in the fair grounds.
Mr. Richman, the elder, at that time, was particularly busy. As was
his habit, he sat upon the floor with a deer skin under him, tanned
with the hair on, and the neck, tail and legs clipped off. In his hand
he held a piece of chair rung, to the end of which was attached a
piece of sole leather, forming a convenient paddle. With this deadly
weapon he slaughtered every fly he could reach adding at each success-
ful blow a suitable curse adjective. A pair of short boards, leaning to-
gether at top and smeared with honey, stood on a shelf as a fly trap.
Every few minutes he would rise from the floor and bring the trap
together with a bang, supplemented with a furious "There, damn
ye!" by way of comment. This is the opposite of romance, Fenimore
Cooper never degraded his hunters and warriors to such small game;
but all the same, such is life, such is reality. It was said of Mr.
Richman that he would sit for hours at a time by his bee hives killing
drones. The Oriental practice of sitting on the floor, as a comfortable
any easy posture, has ever been a puzzle to us of the west. In the
course of his fly campaign, he sat down and rose up many times; and
what is singular he did it with ease and grace, such as long practice
alone can give. I had seen him once before sit for hours on that deer
skin, and what is more had seen him sleep on it, too, his head and
shoulders lightly leaning against a table.
One day in November, '44, Mr. Richman appeared at my house,
telling me he had a job for me. Stripping up his sleeve, he exhibited
a wen on his upper arm, as large as a turkey egg. He said he had
tried two faith doctors on it, but did no good, adding, "The sign wasn't
right or sumthin.' Could I cut it out for him?" To my inquiry as to when
he wished it removed, he said in his decided way. "It must be done
today or tomorrow, because the sign today is in the legs and tomorrow
it'll be in the feet. After that it'll be in the head again and you
know it wouldn't do then at all ; it'ud be dangerous." The wen there-
fore was removed at once. As the wound bled slightly he became
uneasy, remarking that he had the power to "stop blood" on other
people but could not on himself. He could "learn a woman," however,
to do it, and if I would permit my wife to go into the back yard with
him, he would learn her to stop the flow. Nodding assent, they re-
tired — it would ruin the charm for me to see or hear the process —
and he had her place her fingers over the wound, repeating after him
a pow-wow formula commanding the flow to stop in the name of God
and his holy angels. As there was no apparent result and he seemed
anxious, I did what I should have done at first, put on another and
tighter bandage. But Mr. Richman was satisfied, nevertheless, that
the "words" had done the business.
296
He staid with me two days and told me a hundred of his hunting,
mining and ghost stories. Brim full of superstitions, he was what
the scriptures call a "natural man." Without moral or religious
training, he did not know one letter from another, and to him the read-
ing of a printed page was a mystery. His youth and manhood had
been spent in the mountains of Virginia, living a wild and savage life.
He told me he had never worn ,a shoe or a boot nor never had an
overcoat on his back. Roaming over the country in search of game,
in those days when the prairie was a wilderness and the settler was
found only at distant points of timber, it was his habit when night was
coming down, to make his way to the nearest cabin in sight, sans
ceremonii. without a knock, he lifted the latch, walked in and made
himself at home. To the lonely settler he was always a welcome
guest, a God-send in fact. In his dialectic vernacular he repeated to
his eager listeners his old time adventures — -a light sleeper, he literally
"sat by the fire and talked the night away."
From the late Andrew Gwinn I learned that his father was a
woodsman by profession, what the French term a Courier de Bois.
As a scout he served under Lord Dunmore and fought the Indians
under Cornstalk at the battle of Point Pleasant. John was his eldest
son, and had the good fortune to marry a woman of exceptional
wisdom and patience. It was said of her that no other woman could
control his passionate fits. They were energetic, industrious and
prosperous. Deciding to live in the Wabash country, they spent a
year in preparation. Two great poplar trees, made two large canoes.
These dug-outs were launched on New river, placed catamaran fashion,
a deck was built over them, and pitching his tent on top, with his
family inside, the craft floated down the river. Down the Kanawha.
down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash. In the low water of
summer he and his sons pushed that flotilla up stream, day after day,
till they reached Eugene. They staid here a couple of years, as I
have understood, living in the tent, and in the spring of 1829, moved
to the Ambraw. Mr. Richman has ever since carried the distinction
of being the first settler in Douglas county. The exact date is to
me unknown.
It may be stated here as an item of county history, that Captain
Samuel Ashmore, in that same year located in Sargent township on
what is known as the Sargent farm. His son, Omer, living in Iowa,
writes me that they came to a halt on the 15th day of May. His
father had two wagons, five yoke of cattle and a pair of horses. They
immediately broke up twenty acres, planted and fenced it, housing
themselves in the covered wagon. The next thing in order was a
house. The late Geo. Ashmore told me that his father sent him up
to Richman's for help, and the next day Mr. Richman and four of his
sons came down to assist in the raising. In that year but these two
families were in the county, and it is quite certain that this was the
first house in the county. House building items of an early date have
an interest for every locality. The late Young E. Winkler stated
that his mother and his brother, Edmund, came to Brushy Fork in
1830. They built the first house at what is known as the north end
297
of the Hopkins bridge. The little clearing is there yet, and the house
to my recollection stood there tenantless for many years. Ed moved
from there to the Albin farm. In the fall of that year Mr. Winkle
came to Brushy on a visit; from there he rode over to Richman's.
They were still living in the big tent. Old John, as he was called, had
at that time six bee trees marked in the woods. Mr. Winkler tried
to buy one, but could not. Mr. Richman had scruples, thought it
would be an act of betrayal, which the bees might avenge by a spell
on him, rendering it impossible to ever find another hive.
The Richman boys were quite peaceable men, much like their
mother in disposition. John and David had her dark hair and per-
sonally resembled, her. All had more or less of their father's disposi-
tion. When David lay in his last illness, he told me he wished to sell
out ; hoped to get six dollars per acre for his little farm, hoped to get
well, to go to Oregon, to the Rocky Mountains to hunt the bear, the
elk and the black -tailed deer. . Of his five sons, I thought Lewis, the
youngest, resembled his father the most.
Discussing this point once with the late James Hammet,' he dis-
agreed with me, but to me, the resemblance, if not striking, was con-
siderable. Alike in size and build, both had sandy hair, the same pip-
ing voice and the same wild staring look.
As a sequel to my sketch of this wild man 'o the woods, permit me to
close with an anecdote told me long years ago by the Rev. John Steel,
of Grandview, Edgar county. Mr. Steel was born on the Greenbrier
river in Virginia, near the Richman's and knew the family well, es-
pecially the younger members of it. He stated that a new church had
been built in the neighborhood, seated in pew style," finished and
dedicated. On a summer's Sabbath day services had been opened, the
preacher had started into his sermon, when a strange man in hunter's
garb was seen standing in the doorway, eying the preacher with
intense earnestness. He was recognized as Bill Richman, a brother
to John. After a long pause, he stretched forth his long arm and
grasped the pew railing, drawing one foot forward followed by th^
other. Then another reach with one foot at a time, never moving his
eyes from the preacher for a moment. Arriving at a vacant pew, he
raised one moccasined foot, passed it over the door to the inside floor,
then the other and sat down. He remained seated about ten minutes,
then rose, passing one foot over the door outside, then the other as he
stood in the aisle, all the time keeping his alert eyes upon the preacher
as danger point. He then moved backward by reaches, along the
railing as he had advanced, till he stood on the door-sill. Then with
one last wild, staring look at the preacher, he sprang backward and
out several feet, turned hastily and disappeared in the adjoining
forest.
298
THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
Something of Its Beginning and Growth, During the First
Sixty Years of Its History.
1833-1893.
By Charles P. Kane.
The Sangamo Journal published at Springfield, Illinois, in its issue
of March 16, 1833, made this announcement:
"Rev. Josephus Hewitt, of Jacksonville, will preach in the Court House
in this town today and tomorrow. Services to commence at eleven A. M."
If old Time would retrace his footsteps of the last sixty years, and
gathering up his handiwork as he pursued his backward way, would
cast it again into the inscrutable abyss of the unborn, what strange
dissolving views might greet the vision of any, permitted to stand by
unaffected by the marvelous change and witness it.
These witnesses would see aged men and women become first
youths then children, children become babes, then they are not, and
of the thirty thousand population of our present city, many would
hie away in different directions whence they had drifted in ; some
would vanish in one way, some in another, until the whole had shrunk
into a little pioneer village of about 500 inhabitants, situated on a lone-
some road that stretched its tedious length from Vincennes, Indiana,
through Vandalia northwestward to Fort Clark — now Peoria, thence
still northward to the lead mines at Galena.
Along down one of the depressions in the beautiful, billowy prairie
of the "Sangamaw country," draining a little green valley about
two miles in width, sped a stream or runlet, prosaically dubbed by
intruding civilization, "the Town Branch." It passed immediately
south of the edifice, at Fifth and Jackson streets.
Primitive Springfield was located on the north side of this branch,
reaching northward about to the line of Mason street, and extending
east and west from Klein to Seventh street.
The Vandalia wagon road joining another from the direction of
Edwardsville, entered town from the south along the line of First
street, uniting at Jefferson street with two less important roads lead-
ing the one to Beardstown, the other to Jacksonville. These passed
eastward together on Jefferson street, becoming merged in the Fort
299
Clark road, which near the present site of the St. Nicholas hotel, on
Fourth street, turned northward in the direction of the fair grounds
and so to Peoria or Fort Clark.
Thus Jefferson street early became the leading thoroughfare of
the village, and upon it were more thickly grouped the unpretentious
dwellings of the denizens, with a shoe shop, a tailor shop, a blacksmith
shop, a doctor shop, a printing office, a justice's office, a land office and
half a dozen stores, which supplied the inhabitants and neighboring
settlers with dry goods and groceries.
But at the time of which we write, a brick court house had been
recently erected in the block of ground dedicated to public uses, and
business was cautiously but steadily drifting to the public square,
though most of the space fronting the court house was still occupied
by private dwellings. Matheny's corner where the old Farmers'" National
Bank buiding and the Smith buildings now stand, was the residence of
Dr. Garrett Elkin, at one time sheriff of the county. Along the east line
of his premises, now Sixth street, was a high worm rail fence, in
one of the secluded corners of which Dr. Pasfield, encouraged by
other naughty boys, smoked his first cigar and was made very sick.
Neighboring farms bordered close on the confines of the little town.
A farm house stood on the corner of Sixth and Cook streets ; another
was to be found about the place where General Orendorff now resides,
at the corner of Second and Wright streets, and still another at the
intersection of Mason and Seventh,
And so old Time in the backward march proposed for him, would
see the bricks and stones of the Governor's mansion and our new
State house sleep again in their native quarries, laying bare once more
the vacant slopes of "Vinegar Hill." The solid blocks about our
public square and its vicinity would melt into thin air, to be replaced
by the green dooryards and modest dwellings of our first citizens.
No railroad trains would rush with shrill scream and imperious roar
across the quiet unfenced prairies of the Sangamaw country, where
slow oxen gravely drew the plow and reluctant harvests were garnered
with the sickle and the hand rake; no telegraph ticked its swift news
from distant places and peoples to our little town ; no public schools
open their doors in the morning to the gathering children, and not one
of the churches where a score of congregations met and worshiped,
would remain to invite those who hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness to enter and be filled.
Far removed by many miles of distances from old centers of civi-
lization and still farther removed by slow and difficult means of com-
munication and transportation, our brave little frontier town was shut
up to itself, a kind of world in miniature, in which trivial incidents
became as important and were as earnestly discussed by gatherings
on the corners, as they now are when blazoned in great dailies or
sagely considered in ponderous editorials.
The single newspaper published in Springfield at this time gave its
readers a weekly summary of the contents of such St. Louis or eastern
papers as might reach its office through tardy and intermittent mails.
One number of the Sangamo Journal announced that having completed
300
publication of the debate in the United States Senate between Mr.
Webster and Mr. Hayne, which had occupied the entire space of
several recent issues, the editor would now endeavor to give his
readers a greater variety of news.
A noticeable feature of the village paper was the absence from its
columns of local news or reference to events occurring in the village
or neighborhood. This arose, I presume, from two causes: first, as
an old settler said, "nothing happened, everything was quiet and
peaceful;" and secondly, whatever experiences of the little community
might have been deemed worthy a place in the columns of a newspaper,
were so thoroughly ventilated by the garrulous population, that the
editor felt it a work of supererogation to insert the matter in his
journal.
So it was that the so-called Rev. Josephus Hewitt had visited
Springfield and preached the everlasting gospel, some time prior to
the first announcement by the Sangamo Journal, March i6, 1833, that
he would preach next day at the court house, though an incident that
would be seized eagerly by the modern reporter and read the next
morning with interest by his patrons. Yet true it was that Mr. Hewitt
was the first minister of the gospel to promulgate at Springfield, that
interpretation of Biblical teaching, accepted and advocated by the body
of believers known as the Christian Church or the Disciples of Christ,
now numbering in the United States over one million souls.
Mr. Hewitt was a remarkable man. He had qualities that would
have distinguished him in any society, in any age. Large of stature,
dignified of mien, he at once impressed individual or assemblage. As
a speaker he was efifective and forcible ; I have heard numbers of per-
sons say he was a grand preacher. One who listened often, describes
him as a man of singular eloquence and power.
Judge James H. Matheny, a lifetime resident of Sangamon county,
himself styled by brother lawyers at his obsequies, "silver-tongued."
and "Sangamon's well beloved son," in a letter to the "Illinois State
Journal" upon "Some forgotten Orators of Springfield," pubHshed
April 28, 1889, wrote these words :
"Josephus Hewitt was one of the most eloquent men I ever knew.
He came here as a minister of the Christian Church. Afterward he
was admitted to the bar and appointed prosecuting attorney for his dis-
trict. He was a conscientious man and had a high sense of the re-
sponsibility of his office. On the first day of each term of court it was
his duty to charge the grand jury, and people invariably laid aside
their work and flocked to the court house to hear him."
At an important crisis in his career as state's attorney, the require-
ments of duty came into sharp and direct conflict with weighty per-
sonal obligations and friendships, and upon the eve of a momentous
criminal trial he resigned his office. And writes Judge Matheny, "I
never saw Josephus Hewitt again. The next morning it was an-
nounced that he had resigned his office and gone south, and one of the
most eloquent men Springfield ever knew faded from the recollection
30I
of its inhabitants." Hon. David Davis, a former Justice of the U. S.
Supreme Court referred to him in a public address as "Hewitt, elo-
quent and persuasive and my valued friend."
Mr. Hewitt was born in New York City, August 27, 1805, and re-
moved to Versailles, Ky., when twelve years old. He came to Illinois
in 1832, settling near Jacksonville; other members of his family fol-
lowed in 1838. Immediately upon his arrival, in Illinois he began to
preach and was heard at Jacksonville, Carrollton and other places. A
few members of the church had drifted into the Springfield neighbor-
hood from Kentucky and through these, chiefly Mr. Joseph W. Ben-
nett, Hewitt was induced to come here and undertake to organize a
church. His first visit was made sometime in 1832 when not yet
twenty-eight years of age; a young man indeed, but not younger than
Saul of Tarsus, when arrested on the way to Damascus and commis-
sioned as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
' There were but two, possibly three church buildings in town but
their pulpits were not open to Mr. Hewitt, nor was there a hall suitable
to an assemblage of the people. In this emergency, friends secured the
use of a building, situated in the outskirts of the town, now the north-
west corner of Fourth street and Capital avenue, at present the site of
the Devereaux family residence.
Mr. Hugh M. Armstrong, formerly a resident of Springfield and
proprietor of the Springfield Woolen Mills, thus describes the loca-
tion. "The building in question was situated at the corner of Fourth
street and Capitol avenue fronting east. It was a brick building, one
story high and about forty feet square, erected in 1830 or 1831 by
George Carlyle, a young man from Kentucky, and was occupied by Mr.
Hay and his sons Nathaniel, Milton and others for cotten spinning,
and afterwards by Williams and lies for a wool carding machine."
"Yes I have heard Josephus Hewitt preach there at the time to
which you refer. The brick building was removed and Capt. Halliday
built his residence on the same ground, which I believe is there at this
time."
And there they preached the Gospel, and thither went Martha
Beers, member of the Presbyterian church and Philo Beers, her hus-
band, of no church at all, and they took with them their little daughter
Caroline, then but six years of age ; a circumstance I may be pardoned
for mentioning, for though there are members of this congregation
older than she, there are none living who shared this experience with
Caroline Beers, now Mrs. A. J. Kane.
But the carding machine, as the building was called by contemporary
citizens, soon became insufficient to accommodate the audiences that
desired to hear, for many came in from the country around to swell
the company of town folks that gathered nightly. And now new and
influential friends intervene to secure the court house for the brilliant
young evangelist, and according to another account of this incident, for
a time "the same musty walls, which through the day re-echoed voci-
ferous interpretations of the laws of man, resounded at night with the
proclamation of the laws of God."
302
A number of converts were made and baptized, some of whom united
with the church organized shortly after, others connecting themselves
with congregations elsewhere. Among the best known may be named
Gen. James Adams, then county judge, Mordecai Mobley, Dr. James
R. Gray, Mrs. Ann McNab, and Philo and Martha Beers. Direct de-
scendants or near kindred of most all of these are found in the Latham,
Souther, Pasfield, Kane and Pickrell families still found in the church.
Mrs. J. S. Hambaugh is a niece of Josephus Hewitt.
The Sanagmon river served as a baptistery. At the close of this
meeting Mr. Hewitt returned to his home in Jacksonville, often revis-
iting Springfield and preaching at the court house. On one such occa-
sion the notice read at the beginning of this paper, was inserted in the
Sangamo Journal.
And now we come to a most interesting poim in our local history,
namely ; its primary organization. Unfortunately our earliest records
have been lost, but a book marked "Record A," commencing February
20, 1853, probably made up to a large extent from the recollection of
officers and others, has been found incomplete and in some particulars
incorrect though generally reliable in its statements. This record, the
oldest in our possession, contains no account of the original organiza-
tion of the church, so that we are compelled to depend upon the memory
of witnesses in our endeavors to ascertain the time, place and member-
ship of its original institution.
The only light shed by "Record A," upon this important event is the
date given to the oldest enrolled memberships, which is April 1833.
The letter dismissing Martha Beers from the Presbyterian church, it
being her desire to enter the new Christian congregation, bears date
the same month of April. A copy of this letter is still preserved ; it
reads as follows :
"Springfield, Ap. 24th, 1833."
"This is to certify that Mrs. Martha Beers is a member in good and regu-
lar standing in the Presbyterian Church of Springfield. As such she is
hereby, at her own request, dismissed from us and recommended to the
communion and fellowship of any church of Christ, where God in his provi-
dence may cast her lot."
"By order of the Sessions,"
"John G. Bergen, Mode."
The only accessible, living witness to the place of organization is
Caroline Beers, then in her sixth year. She would seem rather young
to give reliable testimony regarding this occasion, but she has a very
clear remembrance of many of the events of her early life, and where-
ever it has been possible to discover collateral evidence, her accounts
have been verified in a remarkable degree. She says further that the
subject of the organization of the church was discussed, in her pres-
ence, through many years, by the participants, and her recollection thus
fully confirmed.
Our sole eye witness testifies that the church was instituted at the
home of Mrs. Garner Goodan, wife of Levi Goodan. The place of her
residence about this time is fixed by such old, cotemporary residents as
Hon. John T. Stuart, Dr. Wm. Jayne, Z. A. Enos and others, near the
MRS. CAROLINE BEERS KANE,
Wife of Rev. A. J. Kane. Only Surviving Memi>ei- (1908) of the Ctiristiaa Church
on Madison Street.
PHILO BEERS.
A Charter Member of the Christian Church, Organized in 1833.
303
corner of Third and Jefferson streets, upon the lot now occupied by the
passenger station of the Chicago & Alton Railway. A blacksmith shop
stood directly on the corner; the Goodan home next east. Mr. and
Mrs. Goodan lived there in a large double log cabin, owned by Pascal
Enos, father of Z. A. Enos named above.
Mr. Wm. T. Vandeveer of Taylorville, son of a foster daughter of
the lady to whom we have referred, writes : "Mrs. Goodan was an
active disciple of Alexander Campbell and frequent meetings were held
at her home. My mother recollects the fact of the organization of the
church and that Mrs. Goodan was one of the organizers."
All who have any knowledge of the first meeting to form a church
agree that the number in attendance was twelve. And these twelve,
although they were almost immediately joined by others, were styled
"the Charter Members." According to Caroline Beers, who claims to
be corroborated by Judge Stephen T. Logan and others, the names of
the twelve are these :
Philo and Martha Beers, Joseph and Lucy Bennett, Alfred and Mar-
tha Elder, Dr. James R. Gray, Mrs. Garner Goodan, Mrs. Ann
McNabb, William Shoup, Reuben Radford and Elisha Tabor."
Among those, who at once or very soon identified themselves with
this little group of pioneers, were America T. Logan, Gen. Jas. Adams,
Lemuel and Evaline Higby, Mordecai Mobiey and wife. George Ben-
nett and wife, Col. E. D. Bake and wife, the Woodworth family and
others whose names are not obtainable.
This little band, to whom we owe the beginnings of all we are, of
all we hope to be as a church, have passed away. The sun and the stars
have shown above, the rain and the snow have, beaten down upon
their graves these many years. They have entered into the great
mystery, whither neither voice nor sight can follow them, whither
our hopes go with them, and into which after a few brief years we too
must pass. We have received their work as a sacred trust, faithfully
to keep and hand again to our children, that with hearts at peace and
conscience clear, we may go to sleep with the fathers, till the Lord
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Arch-
angel and the trump of God, and they that are in their graves shall
hear his voice and come forth.
Few in numbers, limited in resources, the little church began to pre-
pare a meeting place, and before the close of the year they had pur-
chased a lot upon which to build. On the twentieth day of September,
1833, John Smith and Penlope, his wife, and William Smith and Ann,
his wife, of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, for and in
consideration of sixty dollars, conveyed to Reuben Harrison, Thomas
Moffet and Josiah B. Smith, county commissioners of the county of
Sangamon and State of Illinois, and their successors in office, for the
use of the Christian church in the town of Springfield, fifty feet oflf the
east end of lots One and Two, in block One, Ninian Edwards' addition,
to have and to hold to said commissioners and their successors in
office, for the sole and only use of the Christian church in the town
of Spring^eld. Recorded in the Recorder's office of Sangamon county.
304
July 28, 1834, in book "G," page 376. The property thus purchased
was situated on the north side of Madison between Fourth and Fifth
streets, immediately west of the alley, and is part of the premises now
occupied by Ide's Engine Works.
The first meeting house was completed and occupied some time in
1834, a fact we learn from a peculiar and interesting incident.
The congregation being too feeble to accomplish unaided the erec-
tion of a chapel for public worship, appealed to the pubHc for assist-
ance. This was bestowed, but a condition was annexed to the gra-
tuity — that whenever the house was not being used by the Christian
church, any other religious body so desiring to might occupy it. In
those early times, it was not possible to sustain continuous weekly
preaching, and such houseless and homeless religious people as the Ad-
ventists, the Millerites and others, were permitted to use the house
according to the condition nominated in the bond. No confusion or
annoyance arose from this liberty until about 1839, when Mormon
missionaries invaded Sangamon county and began to proselyte, and in-
deed captured one or two of our own members. Under the condition
of the public subscription, the Mormons claimed the right to enter the
church and proclaim there is one God and Joseph Smith is His prophet.
Taking advantage of the general prejudice against this novel and
ill-favored cult, the church officers besought the original subscribers
to their building fund to release them from the condition of their
subscription, that they might have the unquestioned right to close
their doors against the Latter Day Saints. The instrument by which
this was accomplished, is interesting as well because of its contents
as of the list of subscribers, containing the names of many prominent
citizens of Springfield. It reads as follows :
Speingfiexd, May 27, 1839.
The undersigned subscribers to the building of the church on lots one and
two in Edwards' addition to the town of Springfield, understanding that diffi-
culties have arisen in relation to the use of said church or meeting house, do
appoint and direct that said meeting house or church, be held and used
exclusively by and for the use of the church established in Springfield, call-
ing themselves the Christian church, the said meeting house being the same
used by that church since the year 1834.
Stephen T. Logan Jos. Klein
Joseph W. Bennett Thos. Constant
James G. Webb P. C. Canedy
" John Williams ' J. M. Cabanis
" Elijah lies William Fleurville
" James L. Lamb A. G. Herndon
John T. Stuart A. Y. Ellis
Benjamin Talbott Thos. Moffett
William Butler Wm. Carpenter
P. C. Latham B. C. Johnson
William Lavely Gershom Jayne
Erastus Wright Philo Beers
W. P. Grimsley John F. Rague
" B. C. Webster James Campbell
S. M. Tinsley Isaac S. Brittain
" Washington lies John Todd
305
" Andrew McCormick G. Elkin
Geo. Pasfield J. R. Gray
" Sanford Watson H. Yates
John White
" Robert Allen "I hereby subscribe the above caption and
" A. Trailor acknowledge the receipt (from D. B. Hill) of
the amount of my subscription for building the
meeting house named.
June 14, 1839, J. C. Planck.
June 5, 1839, L. G. Mooee."
Recorded in the Recorder's office of Sangamon County, Bk. "P," P. 490.
Prior to the completion of the meeting house in 1834, the congrega-
tion met at the house of its members, principally alternating between
those of Philo Beers and Judge Stephen T. Logan ; the latter was not
a member of the church, but from its organization to the close of his
life was its steadfast friend and most liberal contributor.
After taking possession of their house of worship, the first news we
hear is the cheery note of Mordecai Mobley, probably the first regular
elder, to the Millennial Harbinger, published at Bethany, Va., by
Alexander Campbell. Mr. Mobley's note is dated Nov. 14, 1834. ''We
have recently had four days' meeting in this place,' he writes. "Many
teaching brethren attended, among whom were Brothers Stone, Hewitt
and Palmer of Kentucky. We had during the meeting the pleasure
of seeing ten or twelve obey the Lord and added to the church. We
have the prospect of Brother Hewitt's residence in this place this
winter, from whose labors we anticipate much good to result."
Brother Hewitt came to Springfield as indicated in this letter and
preached for three years, when much to the regret of his family and
the church, he determined to enter the legal profession. His sudden
resignation of the office of State's attorney, and departure for the
South in the fall of 1838 have already been described. He died some
years since at Natches, Miss., and was heard to say no part of his life
was happier than those pioneer days, when he preached for the church
at Springfield.
The Bible he used, containing his name and the date, 1828, has been
preserved by Dr. Pasfield, and was read from during these ceremonies
of the sixtieth anniversary of our organization.
The second preacher of the church was Alexander Graham, who
came to us from Tascola, Alabama, in 1836. Daniel B. Hill, who at
the time was associated with Mordecai in the eldership, and who, in
1843, was elected Mayor of Springfield, writes of Mr. Graham:
He was a man of cultivated mind, pleasant manners and a good
preacher. He was popular as a man and as a preacher and always com-
manded good audiences. The year he was with us, Bro. Graham
published a religious monthly, which he named 'The Berean.' "
Through the courtesy of Mrs. Roxanna Stewart Knights, of Wil-
liamsville. 111., I have been permitted to inspect a number of copies of
"The Berean." It compares quite fav^orably with our literature of
today.
—20 H S
3o6
In a double number for July and August, 1838, in the department
entitled, News from the Churches, appears the _ following editorial
paragraph :
"The congregation of Disciples in Springfield now numbers about ninety
members. There has been a gradual increase since its formation and the
first day has never been without its due celebration. Although we have had
no revival, we have had an accession of forty members during the last twelve
months. It will only require industry and perseverance to see the truth
triumph gloriously."
An editorial published near the same time numbers the Jacksonville
congregation at about two hundred. A letter to the Harbinger dated
April 29, 1839, written by Robert Foster, an eccentric but oftentimes
effective pioneer preacher of Central Illinois, states there were at that
time eleven Christian Churches in Sangamon county, then including
Menard and part of Logan county. These were located at Spring-
field, Lick Creek, Athens, Wolf Creek, Sugar Grove, South Fork of
the Sangamon, Germany, Island Grove, Cantrall's Grove, Clary's
Grove, and Lake Fork.
In 1840 was inaugurated the practice of holding "Annual State
Meetings." The call for the first State Meeting appeared in the July
number of The Heretic Detector, issued at Middlebury, Ohio. It reads
as follows :
NOTICE.
"On Friday before the fourth Lord's day of September, 1840, will com-
mence our annual meeting at Springfield, Illinois. The churches of Christ
are all invited and urged to attend it by their messengers and especially
their evangelists. Elders and deacons are earnestly requested to attend.
We should be pleased to have with us from other states and territories as
many as can come. We design particularly to invite the more prominent
brethren from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
"Our object is to continue some days in worship, to become better ac-
quainted with each other, to strengthen the bonds of fellowship and brotherly
affection, to know our members, to have as many evangelists in the field
of labor as we may be able to support, and to make one united effort to
spread the truth through our country."
" B. W. Stone )
" John T. Jones y Elders.
" Peter Hedenburg ^
" D. Pat Henderson y Ev. of Morgan Co.
" Wm. Davenport ) Elders of
" Henry D. Palmer \ Tazewell County.
" Theophilus Sweet, y Fulton County.
" D. B. Hill y Elder, Springfield, III.
" John Rigdon y Eld. Lick Creek.
Succeeding State Meetings were held at Jacksonville in 1841, again
at Springfield in 1842 and at Bloomington in 1843. They were_ the
occasion of great interest and enjoyment in those tranquil old times
and the brethren were gratified to meet such men as Barton W. Stone,
John T. Jones, D. Pat Henderson of Jacksonville, William L. Lindsay.
. 307
and William Davenport of Walnut Grove, Dr. R. O. Warrener and
Dr. Young of Bloomington, Walter Bolles, William Brown and Robert
Foster of Kentucky, J. P. Lancaster of Missouri, William Palmer and
others.
On account of the feebleness of the little churches which began to
spring up all about, and their inability to sustain regular preaching,
it became the custom for ministers to go about on missionary tours,
visiting a congregation, preaching a few days and then passing to
another.
The first protracted meeting, which was attended by marked results,
was held by William Brown of Kentucky, in July 1841. Mr. Brown
was a man of acknowledged power and subsequently acquired a promi-
nent place among the preachers of Illinois. He was pastor of this
church in 1847 and his daughter, Mrs. Ann Mary Elkin is still a mem-
ber of the congregation here. The meeting of July 1841 resulted in
about sixty conversions, not all of whom however united with the local
church, but among those who did are such well known names as
Jonathan R. Saunders, John G. Elkin, Henry and Caroline Beers,
Sanford Watson, Mary E. Constant, James Walker, James Singleton
and others. Thomas C. Elkin was baptized by Robert Foster the Feb-
ruary preceding.
The following year occurred the second Annual Meeting held at
Springfield. The bright, particular star at this convention was Jerry
P. Lancaster of Mo. As a pulpit orator he was probably surpassed
only by Josephus Hewitt among our early preachers in Illinois. He
was a man of limited education but of fine natural endowments and
the master of a native eloquence that swayed his listeners at will.
Such was his impressiveness that one who heard him said fifty years
afterward, he could give a complete outline of the sermon. The
Springfield church was so delighted with him, they pressed him into
service as their third pastor. He remained but a year however, being
decoyed away by the superior persuasiveness of our Jacksonville breth-
ren ; thence in 1844 he removed to Dubuque, la., at the invitation of
our Bro. Mobley, who had changed his residence to that city. William
and Lavinia Lavely united with the Church during Mr. Lancaster's
ministry.
About this time a young North Carolinian, who with others of. his
family had emigrated to Indiana, resolved to push further into the
West and try his fortunes in the new state of Illinois. In 1838 at
twenty-one years of age, he arrived in this country and assisted in
building the bridge over the Sangamon known as Carpenter's bridge.
In 1839 he took up his residence in Springfield, and having been
converted to the faith by John O'Kane he at once united with the
church in this town. Ready of speech and a close student of the
Scriptures he began to take active part in the social and prayer meet-
ings, and Elder D. B. Hill and leading brethren encouraged him to
enter the ministry. This he did and soon became a prominent figure
among the Preachers of the state. He attended the first State meet-
ing and upon the organization of the Illinois Christian Missionary
Convention, served as a member of the committee to draft its con-
3o8
stitution. In 1853, Brother Campbell visited Illinois in the interest
of Bethany College, at which time the Disciples of the state raised
Sixteen thousand dollars to endow a chair of chemistry in that insti-
tution. Among other places Mr. Campbell visited Jacksonville and
thus writes to the Harbinger of the pastor of the church there : "Bro.
Kane was obliged to give the parting hand at Jacksonville and attend
to his pastoral duties. My loss of his aid will no doubt be a gain to
the cause, he so ably and faithfully sustains in his own proper field of
labor. We want a hundred such men in this great state of Illinois."
Elder A. J. Kane, in a life pilgrimage reaching through three quar-
ters of a century, has spent more than two thirds of that time in active
duty as pastor and evangelist, and his is perhaps the oldest service
in the ministry among the Disciples of Illinois. The solemn ceremony
of his ordination was observed by the church as early as 1842.
The reformation led by Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone,
Walter Scott and others, which we represent, called upon all christians
as well as strangers to the covenants of promise, to reject human
creeds and search the Scriptures to discover the simple, unadulterated
teachings of the Savior and his Apostles. The leading purpose was
in this way to ascertain a common, infallible ground upon which all
Christians might unite in one undivided body. When introduced here
in 1833, the plea was new and those who enlisted for the cause, did
so with enthusiasm. They became studious Bible readers, and it was
the primitive practice in Springfield for every member of the church
to carry a copy of the New Testament in his pocket. Some irreverent
critic observed, "you couldn't say anything to one of those Camphell-
ites about religion, but he would pull out his primer and insist on
reading it to you."
The fraternal tie between the members in those early times seemed
very close ; this is illustrated by a little incident. Two men, prominent
in the church, became candidates for the same public office, and it seem-
ing probably that ill feeling would be engendered by the contest,
it was agreed to submit to the church, which should be the candidate.
A decision was made ; the fortunate brother who received the nomi-
nation, was unfortunately beaten at the polls.
The life of the little congregation, during the time it gathered at
the, meeting house on Madison street, may be termed its heroic age.
Through paucity of numbers and lack of material resources, times of
apathy and discouragement came on and some were inclined to despair.
About the year 1848 the Sunday School was started with Joseph W.
Bennett as superintendent. B. F. Chew a very worthy young man,
filled the ofiice of assistant superintendent, J. N. Wilson that of clerk ;
Thomas C. Elkin, Alfred Elder, Mary Logan, Sarah Brumfield and
others enlisted as teachers. In one of these inauspicious seasons, upon
a cold winter day, when the spirits of the church had with the ther-
mometer, fallen toward zero, a little group of men, women and chil-
dren stood before the meeting house, confronted by doors grimly
locked and barred against them. They had assembled to hold a Sun-
day School but disconcerted at their chilly reception were discussing
an adjournment sine die, when Mary Logan, afterward Mrs. Milton
REV. ANDREW J. KANE,
1817-1896.
Pastor First Christian Church, Springfield, 111., 1851.
Active in the Ministi-y for Fifty Years.
SECOND CHURCH EDIFICE
of the Christian Church, Springfield, 111., Occupied About March 1853. The building
Is still standing (1908) Corner Sixth and JefiEerson Streets.
309
Hay, appeared and inquired why they did not enter the house. "The
good brother who kept the key had not arrived." Straightway she
went for the recreant official, returned with the key and began prep-
arations for kindling the fire. The brethren who had sheepishly ob-
served the young lady, at this point relieved her of further exertions.
Soon the stoves were red hot, the shivering company thoroughly
warmed, the school duly opened, held and closed ; and from that day
to this the Sunday sun has not risen and set again without a Bible
school being conducted at the Christian Church in Springfield.
Through all the most depressing periods prior to 1850, there was
always a nucleus, consisting of the Logans, the Mobleys, the Hills,
the Hewitts, the Bennetts and the Lavelys, which could be rallied to
duty and activity by an appeal to their Christian patriotism. But the
days were not all dark and bars of sunshine and gold streaked the
sky with wholesome, cheering light. Much of the time the Church
moved perceptibly forward.
It remains for me to speak but briefly of our organization after its
removal from the old house on Madison street.
Under date of Feb. 15, 1852, I find in Record "A," this minute:
"At a meeting of the congregation held on this day, on motion it was Re-
solved, that Jonathan Saunders, Stephen T. Logan, "William F. Elkin, William
Lavely and Joseph W. Bennett be appointed a committee to make arrange-
ments for a more suitable house of worship and to act for and in behalf of
the congregation, as they may determine best, either by pulling down the
old house and building on the present lot, or by purchasing another lot and
building thereon, and disposing of the old house and lot to the best ad-
vantage." "Thos. C. Elkin, Clerk."
May 30, 1852, an election was held for trustees, resulting in the
choice of Jonathan R. Saunders, William F. Elkin, Stephen T. Logan
and Thomas Condell.
July 16, 1852, the trustees were authorized to sell the property on
Madison street and execute a deed therefor.
July 17, 1852, the trustees joined the judge and justices of the
County Court in a deed, conveying the Madison street property to
the trustees of the Free Portuguese Church of the City of Springfield.
June 3, 1852, William Carpenter, in consideration of Thirteen Him-
dred dollars, conveyed to Stephen T. Logan, Thomas Condell, Jr.,
William Lavely, Jonathan R. Saunders and William F, Elkin, Trustees
of the Qiristian Church at Springfield, Illinois, and their successors
in office. Lot i. Block i, of The Old Town Plat. Recorded June 19,
1852.
This property was situated on the Northwest corner of Sixth and
Jefferson streets. Here a meeting house was erected this same year,
in which the congregation assembled for worship about thirty suc-
cessive years. The building was occupied early in 1853, and as a
house warming a "protracted meeting" was held, conducted by Elders
W. W. Happy and A. J. Kane of Jacksonville.
With the entry into the building on Sixth and Jefiferson streets the
congregation received reinforcements of material that very sensibly
influenced and aided its progress. In 1853 Asbury H. Saunders,
Richard and Margaret Latham, and Henry C. Latham their son
310
were added. In 1854, William T. and Dorinda Hughes ; in 1855,
Aaron and Lavinia Thompson, and Lucy Latham; in 1856, William
D. Logan and wife.
Soon after the occupation of the new domicile, Feb. 20, 1854, there
was also a kind of official reorganization. An election was held at
which Jonathan R. Saunders received for Elder twenty-one votes ;
William F. Elkin thirty-three votes and William Lavely twenty-four
votes, and these were declared elected. March 13, following, B. B.
Lloyd and John D. Constant were chosen deacons. About two years
later, Sept. 30, 1855, Aaron Thompson, J, N. Wilson and J. F. Rowe
were added to the diaconate. This is Bro. Thompson's first entry
upon official service; he was chosen elder Feb. 6, 1859. After an
interim the responsibilities of the eldership were again entrusted to
him, which he has retained to this day. Only his brethren know how
faithful he has been in the discharge of the duties of his bishopric.
Near fourscore years of age, he is full of honors as of years.
The writer united with the church May 9, 1864. Prior to this date
official elections were frequently held but on the 27th day of Decem-
ber 1865, were chosen the office bearers with whom my early recollec-
tions are most clearly associated.
As Elders : Richard Latham, William F. Elkin, William Lavely,
Andrew J. Kane and Joseph W. Bennett.
As Deacons: Thomas C. Elkin, Robert Hastings, ]\Ioses K. Ander-
son, John Greenwood and Asbury Saunders.
And these brethren on the loth day of January following as the
record declares : "Most solemnly after fasting and prayer, were set
apart by ordination to the several offices to which they had been
chosen."
Opposite the name of Richard Latham we find the simple record:
"Fell asleep in Jesus, June 5, 1868, in the full hope of rest." For
fifteen years Bro. Latham had been an exemplary member and for
nine years an elder. "He was a good man," was the eulogy pro-
nounced at his grave; there could be none more honorable. Father
William F. Elkin, a man of high Christian character, secure in the
place he long held in the affections of his people, in old age removed
from Springfield in 1880. In 1872 Bro. Thompson was again called
to the eldership, and as thus constituted the Board remained until by
gradual additions, the present elders and deacons became the official
representatives of the congregation.
On the loth of March 1880, the Church incorporated under the
laws of the State of Illinois, electing Stephen T. Logan, Jonathan R.
Saunders, William Lavely, Vachel T. Lindsay, Charles P. Kane and
Samuel H. Twyman, trustees and adopted as their corporate name
"The Christian Church of Springfield, Illinois." Certificate recorded
in the Recorder's office of Sangamon county in Book 60 of Mtgs. P. 9.
A resolution had already been adopted at a meeting held February
29, 1880, appointing A. H. Saunders and H. C. Latham, together with
the deacons of the Church, a committee to negotiate the sale of the
church property on the corner of Sixth and Jefferson streets, and that
the proposition of Robert Officer to sell the lot on the Northeast cor-
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
Springfleld, Ills.
Present Buaiding, Corner Fifth and Jackson Streets.
311
ner of Fifth and Jackson streets be accepted, and that this lot be
purchased as a new building site.
March ii, 1880, Elizabeth M. OfBcer and Thomas, her husband,
in consideration of Twenty-two Hundred dollars, conveyed to the
Christian Church of Springfield, Illinois, Lots Nine and Ten, in Block
Two, of E. L. Edward's Addition.
Messrs. L. H. Coleman, Aaron Thompson, H. C. Latham, Ervin
Clark, W. D. Logan, A. H. Saunders and Mrs. Hattie Pasfield were
chosen a CQmmittee to superintend the construction of a new edifice.
The house was built under the direction of this committe and the per-
sonal supervision of the Pastor, J. Buford Allen.
On the loth day of February 1882, Aaron Thompson, chairman
and L. H. Coleman, treasurer of the Building Committee, made a
report of the receipts and disbursements on account of the new build-
ing, and formally delivered it to the Trustees. A vote of thanks was
tendered the committee and especial honorable mention made of Bro.
Allen and his valuable services as superintendent of the work. It was
also ordered that the proceedings of this meeting be spread upon the
records and that the congregation adjourn to meet at the new house
on the corner of Fifth and Jackson streets.
This building was occupied and dedicated on Sunday, Feb. 12th,
1882. The exercises consisted of Scripture reading and prayer by
Elder J. Buford Allen, the pastor, a sermon by Elder A. J. Kane, a
dedicatory address by Mr. Allen and the celebration of the Lord's
supper.
In the evening a union service was conducted, in which a number
of ministers of the different denominations in the city participated.
In 1887, during the pastorate of E. V. Zollars, the parsonage in the
rear of the church was erected.
There have been twenty-one regular pastors of the flock in the last
sixty years. They are:
1 Josephus Hewitt \ 1835 12 Thomas T. Holton 1869
2 Alexander Graham 1838 13 James B. Grain 1870
3 Jerry P. Lancaster 1843 14 Harvey B. Everest 1873
4 William Brown 1847 15 Edward T. Williams 1876
5 AndrewJ.Kane 1851 16 John M. Atwater 1878
6 John H. Hughes 1853 17 Joseph Buford Allen 1880
7 Alexander Johnson 1854 18 J.Z.Taylor 1884
8 B.P. Perky 1856 19 EH V. Zollars 1886
9 S.E.Pearre 1862 20 John B. Briney 1889
10 Daniel R. Howe 1864 ' 21 Abner P. Gobb 1892
11 Lansford B. Wilkes 1866
These names are the property of the Brotherhood at large. Noth-
ing could be said here that would add to the wider reputation, they
have earned in the broader field of the whole church ; the history of
our reformation would be incomplete without them and its pages will
but the brighter, where the names of these heroes of the cross appear.
From the beginning we have been singularly happy in our Elder-
ship, With few exceptions they have been men of upright purposes,
312
sincere servants of the Lord, capable and well qualified. Their names
have been a tower of strength and their memory an inspiration, even
to later generations.
There was Mordecai Mobley, still tenderly remembered by the
eldest of us ; he was probably the first to assume this responsible office
and justified the early preference of his brethren.
There was Daniel B. Hill, Mayor of Springfield in 1843, yet living
in Palo Alto, Miss., in his 83d year, whom his co-temporaries styled
the model elder. A man of gentle manners, of firm clear judgment,
intelligent in the Scriptures, discreet, judicious. One said of him,
when Bro. Hill examined a cause and gave his decision, such was the
unbounded confidence in the man, no further questions were asked.
There was venerable Father Hewitt and Thomas Hewitt, Jr., father
and brother of Josephus; the latter like his brother "silver-tongued,"
whose touching and instructive talks at social meetings, were often
said to be worth many sermons. There were also Alfred Elder,
Joseph W. Bennett, William Dillard, Dr. Broekie, Father William F.
Elkin, Richard Latham, Jonathan R. Saunders, William Lavely, James
B. Hocker, Andrew J. Kane and Aaron Thompson.
On the death of William Lavely, Jan. 25, 1888, the officers adopted
a minute in memoriam, which was entered upon the record Feb. 12,
and approved by a rising vote of the congregation. It contained the
following paragraph : "As a Christian, his was a faithful and devoted
life. In him were reposed by the Church, the gravest responsibilities
and the most sacred trusts, which he never evaded nor betrayed, but
by precept and example endeavored to impress upon his brethren the
teachings of his Divine Master," He died at yy years of age. He
was a member of the Church 47 years and an Elder 23 years.
Philo Beers, James R. Gray and Lemuel Higby were the first dea-
cons. Since their time we have profited by the services of William
Lavely, Jos. W. Bennett, B. B. Lloyd Aaron Thompson, Thos. C.
Elkin, Moses K. Anderson, W. D. Logan, Ervin Clark and others.
Martha Beers was chosen deaconess before the removal from Madi-
son street and held this office at her death in 1845. During the
pastorate of L. B. Wilkes, three deaconesses were elected, viz : Eliza-
beth Bennett, Margaret Latham and Caroline M. Kane.
There were many noble, courageous women, w'ho were a source of
great strength to the congregation. No one will ever be able to tell
the story of our debt to such women as America T. Logan, Mrs.
Mordecia Mobley, Mrs. George and Lucy Bennett, Mrs. D. B. Hill,
Mrs. Margaret Latham, Mrs. Julia A. Brown, Mrs. Milton Hay, Mrs.
Caroline M. Kane, Mrs. A,rchie Constant, Mrs. Marcia Saunders, Mrs.
Jennie B. Coleman and many others that might well be mentioned.
They never wavered in their faith or loyalty, nor faltered in their
zeal. The impress of their influence is indelible. Without them the
first effort to establish a Christian Church in Springfield must have
failed.
I can recall many old faces, that have vanished from our midst,
which as a boy, I was taught to reverence, as the Elders of the Church.
It was the custom then, much more than now, for these Patriarchs
AMERICA T. LOGAN.
Wife of Judge Stephen T. Logan,. Her Membership in Christian Church dates from
1833.
313
to sit in front in full view of the assembly. Time had plowed furrows
in their faces and bent their frames with the weight of years. Week
after week I saw them regularly in their places, steadfast in their
duty. These old faces still have an eloquence I can not transmit to
these pages and impress a sermon I never hear elsewhere.
As before intimated the story of this Church could not be told, with-
out touching upon times of adversity as well as prosperity. Sometimes
the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat up-
on this house, but it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock, and when
the horizon cleared again and the sun lit up the sky, the same faithful
ones were to be seen standing to the defense of Zion, and the same
hands were still upholding the blood-stained banner of the Cross.
I have spoken freely of those who have passed from the scene of
earthly action, leaving those who yet remain to the judgment of their
contemporaries and to the future historian, who some day may con-
tinue this history and give due honor to such as deserve well at his
hands. Yet without prejudice to myself or others, I might perhaps
name the present members of the church, whose membership reaches
back into the first half of the Sixty-year period.
But four, Elizabeth Bennett, Andrew J. Kane, Caroline M. Kane
and Thomas C. Elkin, were members of this organization prior to its
removal from the meeting house on Madison street; the others are
Mrs. Sarah Smith, Asbury H. Saunders, Henry C. Latham, William
T. Hughes, Dorinda Hughes, Aaron Thompson, Elizabeth W. Logan,
Mildred Mason, Sarah Patterson, Nannie Souther, Ann M. Elkin,
Mary Pittman, Martha Paullin, Caroline Tuxier, Mary Ross and Liz-
zie Bennett. These belong early or late, to the first thirty years of our
history.
The present officers are:
Pastor, Abner P. Cobb.
Elders: Andrew J. Kane, Aaron Thompson, Vachel T. Lindsay, Louis H.
Coleman, Ben. R. Hieronymus and Charles P. Kane.
Deacons: Asbury H. Saunders, Henry C. Latham, Hiram E. Gardner,
David W. Clarke, James White, Richard H. Shropshire, Samuel H. Twyman,
Edmund D. Postman, George Lawson, John D. Tilley, I. H. Taylor, William
T. Lavely, David S. Propst and Ed. S. Sherwood.
Trustees: Vachel T. Lindsay, Louis H. Coleman, Henry C. Latham, Charles
P. Kane, Samuel H. Twyman and Edmund D. Poston.
And now having inscribed this brief record, L realize how difficult
it is to write history. A few names have been mentioned, a few dates
noted, but how many threads must be dropped, how many facts un-
written, how many persons forgotten. Faces vanish, voices are
hushed, footsteps heard no more. It may be events important in their
results, names potent for good or ill, have found no place in this
simple story of the beginning and early progress of the Christian
Church at Springfield. And we deeply feel the truth of that beautiful
saying of George Elliot: "The growing good of the world is partly
dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so "ill with you
and I me, as they might have been, is half owing to the number, who
lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs."
3H
Many have come to us from without, many have removed to other
and distant homes, many have gone to the bosom of the Father, still
we have increased. The hand of the Lord has been with us ; hitherto
hath the Lord helped us. The little company of twelve that organized
the church in 1833, after all deaths, departures and deplsetions, in
sixty years has multiplied sixty fold, and now numbers seven hundred
and twenty souls. The condition of the church is prosperous, its spirit
harmonious, its labors abundant, and we hear the voice of the Re-
deemer :
"The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which
a man took and sowed in his field ; which indeed is the least of all
seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and be-
cometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its
branches."
(Note: The foregoing paper was read at the celebration, by the
Christian Church of Springfield, Illinois, of the Sixtieth Anniversary
of its organization, observed the first Sunday in October, A. D. 1893.)
315
A NOTABLE ILLINOIS FAMILY.
By Ensley Moore.
A lady passed away, comparatively recently, in Indianapolis, who
was the last of her generation in a family notable in the earlier his-
tory of Illinois ; a family which, in those hard and narrow days of pion-
eering- and in later days of broader things, did a large, and good part
mostly, in the development of Illinois. It is the Goudy family to which
reference is made.
Robert Goudy, Sr., was presumably born in the neighborhood of
Armaugh, County Tyrone, Ireland, although the name Goudy, Gowdy
as it was first spelled, and Goudie, is strictly a Scotch patronymic.
Robert Goudy was born Nov. 2, 1785, and first appiears in this country
in Washington Co., Pa. There it is presumed he met Miss Jane Ans-
ley, as that was her home, a lady of Scotch ancestry, and a' woman
of great strength and independende of character. She was born July
14, 1790, and was married to Mr. Goudy about 1812.
Their son, Thomas Ansley Goudy, was born Nov. 13, 1812. He
transposed his name, after growing up, and was known as Ensley T.
Goudy. He was in many respects the pioneer of the family, for he
preceded the other members to Jacksonville. There, on July i, 1840,
he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine McMackin, a very
bright and attractive lady, whose Irish father had the brightness of
his race and whose mother belonged to a prominent Delaware-Penn-
sylvania family. Ensley T. Goudy was engaged in various lines of
business besides printing, among other things being secretary in pri-
vate life to Gov. Joseph Duncan, of Illinois, and was a man of promi-
nence and high character. Mrs. Goudy died in June, 1847, ^^^ ^^•
Goudy followed her in February, 1848, thus cutting short two lives
of much promise and usefulness. They were parents of four children,
only one of whom survived them.
Robert Goudy, the father, early took up the "art preservative of
arts" and probably every member of his family, except his wife,
served time at the case or with the press, and some were explerts at
typesetting. As it was they wrote their names in print at least upon
the history of Indiana and Illinois, for the family were in Indianapolis
at an early date, and Mr. Goudy at one time had a pasture where the
Union Railway Station now stands. Some of the children were born
in Indiana but the family removed from Indianapolis to Vandalia,
Illinois, in June, 1832, and after a short stay and doing some printing
there, they came on to Jacksonville in 1833, lured by the opportunities
offered by Illinois College, the first college established in the then new
3i6
state. Jacksonville Female Academy, the first high grade school for
girls in the state was a matter of hope, and later on of help to the
Goudy girls, who became students there.
Robert Goudy, Sr., was a man far above the average in mental
ability and force in certain lines, and his wife was a woman of in-
domitable purpose and high character. They became the parents of
nine children, all of whom were to become noted in their respective
homes and walks of life. Mr. Goudy probably brought his printing
outfit into Illinois ; at any rate he was publishing "The News" in Jack-
sonville in 1834. It was about this time that Stephen A. Douglas came
up from Winchester to Jacksonville, on a visit, and met the Goudys.
Douglas was then about twenty years of age, and weighed about one
hundred and twenty pounds; he was always very short. But Mr.
Goudy recognized the coming man, and urged Douglas on in the way
of ambition, putting the papers and books of the printing office at
his disposal and urging their use when needed. Douglas soon started
on his wonderful career by making a great "Jackson speech" in Jack-
sonville, after which he was borne around the courthouse yard on
the shoulders of his enthusiastic supporters, and dubbed "The Little
Giant," a title which clung to him thereafter. The Goudys were his
friends and partisans throughout the rest of his life, and probably
none so much aided him in his early political struggles for place and
name.
Among other work done in 1834 by the Goudys, was the publication
of "Peck's Gazeteer of Illinois," a little volume of nearly four hundred
well printed pages, bearing the imprint "Robert Goudy, 1834." This
was probably the first book, other than law or legislative reports,
printed and bound in Illinois. The "boards" were procured from
Cincinnati, then "The Queen City of the West." The Goudys printed
the program for Illinois College, and, in 1835 their name was
upon the first real Commencement program issued in the state, that
of the class of 1835, at Illinois College. Mr. Goudy also began in
Jacksonville the publication of the Almanac bearing his name, which
became a repository of political and other facts highly valued by
"the Natives" for many years. The Robert Goudy family, together
with that of his son, Ensley T. Goudy, removed to Springfield, 111.,
about 1845, where Robert Goudy died, that year. His widow re-
mained there a few years, and then went to the home of her daughter,
Mrs. Eliza Gamble, in Le Claire, Iowa, at which place she remained
until her death in 1865.
Calvin Goudy, second child of the family, was born in Youngstown,
Ohio, June 2, 1814. The family removed to Indianapolis in 1826,
where Calvin began to learn the trade of printer. That city then had
but one church, of the Presbyterian denomination, and Calvin became
a member of its pioneer Sabbath School, under the pastorate of the
Rev. George Bush. There Goudy became proficient in learning
Bible verses, taking his Bible with him while he worked at driving
oxen for hauling brick and sand. This childish occupation shows how
the sturdy men were made. Football was not then needed for physical
317
and manly development. At Vandalia Calvin worked as a printer,
among other things putting Governor Reynold's first annual message in
type. After going to Jacksonville he earned his living with the
type, and attended Illinois College, from which he was graduated in
1839. Among his associates in college were War Governor Richard
Yates and Rev. R. W. Patterson, D. D., pioneer pastor of Chicago
and father of the late editor of the Chicago Tribune. During Goudy's
college course he assisted in printing a book entitled "Wakefield's
History of the Black Hawk War," another early work in printing.
He also taught school, studying and reciting in college at the same
time. In the year 1837, Calvin, in connection with his brother (pre-
sumably Ensley T.), published the "Common School Advocate," it
being the first publication devoted exclusively to the cause of educa-
tion published in the "Great Far West." "On Nov. 8, 1838, Calvin
was one of a small party that rode in the first car and behind the first
iron horse ever set in motion in the State. There were but eight miles
of finished roadway over which the trial trip was made, from Mere-
dosia, Morgan Co., eastward — the beginning of the present great Wa-
bash system." Calvin studied medicine and was graduated from the
St. Louis Medical College in the spring of 1844. In May of the same
year, he located in Taylorville, Christian county, his future home.
Deer, bears and wolves then abounded in that region and Dr. Goudy,
on one occasion, narrowly escaped with his life from a pack of wolves
which chased him to a human habitation. He was always a popular
man, and his next run was for the ojfifice of Probate Judge, to which he
was elected in 1847, for ^ term of four years. May 10, 1848, Dr.
Goudy was married to Miss Martha A. Mahood, of Cadiz, Ohio, and
they were parents of four girls and two boys. Mrs. Goudy was a
beautiful woman, and is still living in Toledo, Ohio, in the home of a
daughter. In 1848 Dr. Goudy was professor of chemistry in Rock
Island Medical College, which place he resigned at the end of the year.
Having succeeded in his profession. Dr. Goudy "to meet the pressing
needs of the section, erected in 1850, the first steam saw mill, to which
he added a run of burrs to grind corn. This venture proved a public
benefit. In 1856 the doctor was elected by a large majority to the
Legislature, where he took an active part in all measures for the ad-
vancement of public education. He also acted very efficiently in ad-
vancing the interests of agricultural societies." In referring to the
Normal University, the first Normal School in Illinois, the Chicago
Times of July i, i860, said: The bill creating this institution met with
a vigorous opposition in the House of Representatives of 1857, but by
the energetic aid of such men as Dr. Calvin Goudy of Christian county,
(whose effort in this cause should endear him to every lover of edu-
cation) the bill finally passed by a majority of one. Dr. Goudy also
projected and introduced the bill incorporating the Springfield and
Pana Railroad. In Jan., 1861, Dr. Goudy was appointed by the Gov-
ernor, and confirmed by the Senate, a member of the State Board of
Education, a position he retained until his death. The family were all
Democrats until 1861, when Calvin became a War Democrat, and
later a Republican. Sept. 6, 1863, he was appointed Provost Marshal
3i8
of Christian county, a position he decHned. Dr. Goudy filled many
minor offices within the gift of his fellow citizens, and at the time of
his death was the oldest citizen of Taylorville. He assisted in organ-
izing- the first Sabbath School in the county, and was a prime mover
in public enterprises in which he believed and in benevolent movements
of his time. He was for forty-three years a member of the Presby-
terian Church, and was a commissioner to the General Assembly of
1876. Dr. Goudy was also a member of the Masonic fraternity, his
brethren thereof officiating at his funeral, Mar. 8, 1877. "Dr. Goudy's
death was deeply regretted throughout the central part of the State,
where he was well known and highly respected. His funeral was very
largely attended ; all the business houses of Taylorville being closed
during the services."
Robert Goudy, Jr., born Feb. 5, 1816, was probably the darling of the
family, as he was a youth of exceedingly bright mind and personally
attractive. Long years after his early death. Dr. Newton Bateman,
then State Superintendent of Public Instruction, said of him : "Robert
had that rare insight into the subleties of things, which, for a lack of
a better name, men call Genius !" And so he was esteemed by his fam-
ily and friends. He was born in the state of Pennsylvania, but was
taken to Indianapolis by his parents in 1826. "Here, it may be said,
were spent those "halcyon hours" casual to boyhood's years. Hours,
the events of which, usually stamp their impress on memory's tablet.
" — i his early days
Were with him in his heart. — 'Woordswortli."
There, perhaps was awakened the poetic spirit which led him to
write in verse, and to be thought of as one of the gifted ones. Soon
after coming to Illinois he made public profession of religion, and
united with the Presbyterian church in Vandalia. In the years after
coming to Jacksonville he studied in Illinois College, from which
'he was graduated in 1839, in the same class with his elder brother Cal-
vin. Shortly after this he returned to Indianapolis, where he remained
nearly two years, studying his chosen profession of medicine. In
June, 1841, he returned to Illinois, and in August following he located
at St. Marys, in Hancock county where he entered upon a successful
practice, but one of short duration. "He died of congestive fever, at
that place, Feb. 3, 1842, and his remains now rest in the St. Mary's
graveyard, situated in a beautiful grove adjacent to the village."
Greece was then the subject uppermost in the minds of students and
those poetically inclined, and, in 1839 Robert wrote a poem on that
felicitous subject, the opening verse of which ran:
"Fair land of polished art and poet's song —
The sacred home of precious Freedom long,
And long the abode of sage Philosophy:
Bright spot among the gloom of years gone by,
Whose wreck is sinking in Oblivion's sea.
My truant thoughts all else forsake for thee,
. My fancy wanders where blind Homer sung.
And strays thy fallen fanes and col'ms among."
319
A little book of his half serious attempts at poetry was printed by
Dr. Calvin Goudy, prefaced by a sketch of Robert's short life, and
this thin remembrance of 1842, and of a bright and gifted soul, lies
before the writer of this sketch. The smile of Heaven was upon Dr.
Robert's face as he died, and
"After life's fitful fever,
He sleeps well."
Maria Goudy, first girl of the family, and destined to live longest of
any of them, was born Dec. 10, 1817. She, and all the girls, were born
in Pennsylvania. She was married in Jacksonville, Sept. 3, 1838, to
Mr. George W. Chapman, by whom she had five children. One of
these, Mrs. Ellen Granger who was married in Cincinnati, was a school
teacher, and became county superintendent of schools in the state of
Washington. Mrs. Chapman died in Indianapolis, where she had lived
for some years, June 15, 1905, and was buried beside her father in Oak
Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, 111. She was a well educated and well
informed woman, and a good writer. She enjoyed unusual physical
health thro her eighty-six years, and had remarkable possession of
her faculties for the last years of her life. She possessed much imag-
ination, and was very vivacious, especially as she grew older.
Eliza Goudy was born June 2, 1819, and became a woman of decided
force of character, was widely informed and of high mentality. She
was married in Springfield, July 20, 1848, to Dr. Jas. Gamble, of Le-
Claire, Iowa. Dr. Gamble was a native of Londonderry, Ireland, and,
after coming to the United States, lived in Delaware, Pittsburg, Pa.,
Warsaw, 111., New Orleans, St. Louis, and finally settled in Le Claire,
Iowa in 1847, thus becoming a pioneer of that state which was at the
time only a year old. After marrying Miss Goudy, "their home was
for many years a social center." Dr. Gamble was a member of the
American Medical Association, and of the medical association of the
state of I0W&, of which latter he was president in 1870. He held local
offices for years, was identified with educational matters and was
mayor of Le Claire. He was vice-president of the Savings bank, and
otherwise prominent. In 1862 he was assistant surgeon of the 3d
regiment of Iowa Volunteers. In religious matters he was first a
Baptist, and, when the local church broke up, he became a Presby-
terian, of which denomination he became a Ruling Elder. At his fun-
eral at the age of eighty-two years, in Oct., 1903, "there were present
hundred of old friends of the decedent and the funeral cortege that es-
corted the remains to their last resting place was one of the largest
in recent years." The city officials of Le Claire attended the services
in a body. Dr. and Mrs. Gamble had no children of their own, but
their home was the shelter of several children of their relatives. Mrs.
Gamble was a fine housekeeper, a good writer, and at her death, Oct.
6, 1895, the local paper remarked of her: "Mrs. Gamble has been an
active and influential member of the Baptist church for over fifty
years, and took a deep interest in all efforts to advance the cause of
320
education and Christianity, and was greatly admired by all who had
the pleasure of her acquaintance during her long residence in Le-
Qaire."
Jane Goudy, the youngest girl, was born Feb. 2, 1822, and was
accounted the brightest of the girls of the family by her acquaintances.
She, as did the others, early took to writing, which it should be re-
membered, was a rare accomplishment in those days, owing to the
general lack of public education, and especially owing to the then de-
fective education of women. Miss Goudy was married in Springfield,
Mar. 4, 1845, to Dr. E. T. Chapman, of Taylorville, which was her
home for years. They were parents of four children, and were lead-
ing citizens of their home town. This was brought about by the
brightness and intelligence of Mrs. Chapman, and her interest in public
affairs, and by the popularity of Dr. Chapman and his professional
success. Dr. Chapman died about 1865, and some years later Mrs.
Chapman removed with her family, to Topeka, Kansas, thus proving
true to the pioneering tendency of the race. She died there Dec. 6,
1892.
William Charles Goudy was born May 15, 1824, an era when so
many great men were born, and he was destined to become, or to make
himself, the most prominent and distinguished member of the family.
There was much in common, in the early days, of the various struggles
of such men as Douglas, Lincoln and Grant, with poverty and other
adverse circumstances, and Wm. C. Goudy belonged to that class of
men. The three mentioned had greater names than Goudy, when
their work was done, but he possessed the same quiet, industrious, in-
domnitable quality as they had, and he came to know and to be inti-
mately associated with the first two and to be personally acquainted,
probably with Gen. Grant. At the unveiling of the equestrian statue
of Grant, in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Mr. Goudy as president of the
park board, made a speech in the presence of very many thousands of
hearers and spectators accepting that work of art. Mr. Goudy was
born in Indiana, but for some reason he used to say he was born near
Cincinnati, which was also true. He came to Illinois in 1833, and was
always thereafter a citizen of this state. He became an expert type-
setter, and also taught school. He was always a pronounced Democrat
politically, but one night, while engaged in teaching school at Decatur,
. he was sleeping at the house of a well known Abolitionist, when a
pro-slavery mob attacked the place, and some one shot right through
the window and over the bed where Mr. Goudy was lying. Following
the family thirst for learning, William attended Illinois College and was
graduated in the class of 1845. The class had eleven members, all of
whom, with possibly a single exception, became prominent or dis-
tinguished. Of the latter was Hon. Barbour Lewis, afterward member
of Congress from Memphis, Tenn., a federal judge in Utah, and a
State judge in Washington. Another of special prominence and bus-
iness success was Mr. E. W. Blatchford, a leading manufacturer of
Chicago, who is, so far as known, in 1908, the only survivor of the class.
WILLIAM C. GOUDY.
321
After graduation Mr. Gk)ucly studied law with Hon. Stephen T. Logan,,
of Springfield — one of the greatest lawyers of Illinois — was admitted
to the Bar in 1847, ^"cl located at Lewistown, Fulton Co., in 1848.
There he became acquainted with Miss Helen M. Judd, sister of the
Hon. S. Corning Judd, a native of New York state. Mr. Goudy and
Miss Judd were married at Canton, 111., in 1849, ^^^ they became iden-
tified with the Presbyterian church of Lewistown, and were active
workers in the Sabbath school of that church, to which both belonged.
In 1852 Mr. Goudy was elected states attorney of the district, which
then included Rock Island and other counties. In 1856 he was elected
state senator, and he was in the upper branch of the Legislature, in
1857, when his brother Calvin was in the lower house. Wm. C.
Goudy's success as a lawyer, up to this time, had been good, but he
heard the city calling him, and in 1859 ^e left Lewistown and went to
Chicago, which continued to be his home for the rest of his life.
In Chicago Mr. Goudy became one of the foremost lawyers of the
land in private practice, and in the last years of his life he was general
counsel of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, a distinguished and
lucrative position.
He was always an intensely busy man, and never wasted words.
This led Franc B. Wilkie of the Chicago Times to characterize Mr.
Goudy as "a locomotive enigma of reticence." Yet, when he had
time, he was an interesting talker and highly enjoyed such relaxation,
and had a keen appreciation of true humor.
"Writing some years since of a member of the western bar, a very
eminent American jurist expressed the opinion that if one familiar
with the profession, and competent to the task, were called upon to
single out from among the many shining examples of legal greatness
in this country the ideal lawyer, he could not do better than point to W.
C. Goudy, of Chicago.'
"More than forty years of professional life has brought Mr. Goudy
so prominently before the public that it is only necessary to say of him,
so far as his standing at the bar is concerned, that he ranks among
the pre-eminently great lawyers of the country."
"In 1855 he argued his first case before the Supreme Court of Illi-
nois. ***** One hundred and thirty volumes of these re-
ports have since been issued, and in every one of them cases have been
reported which have been argued by Mr. Goudy, many of them in-
volving questions of land law, commercial law and constitutional law
of the greatest importance. In the higher courts of other western
states, and in the Supreme Court of the United States, he has been al-
most as conspicuous a figure, his arguments in cases involving ques-
tions of commercial law attracting special attention, and carrying with
them extraordinary weight."
Many noted cases in the National Supreme Cpurt might be referred
to, did space permit ; for Mr. Goudy had a remarkably distinguished
record before that tribunal.
"As no argument is necessary to establish the fact that Mr. Goudy
is one of the great leaders of the western bar, neither would any pan-
—21 H S
322
egyric which might be written of him in this connection, add to the
lustre of his renown "was written in the Magazine of Western His-
tory, some time before his death."
Mr. Goudy accumulated a very handsome fortune, lived elegantly,
and never forgot in his success, those who had been friends in the
days of his struggles for place and fame. He was a candidate for
the United States Senate in 1862, and received a good vote, but was
defeated by Wm. A. Richardson. Later in life he was a member of the
National Democratic Committee, and a trusted adviser of President
Cleveland. In church matters and benevolences Mr. Goudy was prom-
inent, and was a trustee or director of McCormick Theological Semin-
ary for years before his death. His home was brightened by two
children, and it was visited by many of the most distinguished people
of the land, to whom he extended a quiet but warmhearted generosity.
Few men have been more generous, and this helpfulness was not ex-
tended merely to the members of his own family, but he had pension-
ers for years. He delighted in the society of little children and was
greatly pleased at having them as visitors in his home.
"His interest in politics never had the effect of decreasing his in-
terest in professional work, or caused him to slight his professional
duties. From the time he took hold of his first case, up to the present,
his rule has been to examine thoroughly into the details of every case
in which he was retained, and to scrutinize it in all its bearings."
Many incidents illustrative of his work in this respect might be given,
and one of his greatest successes professionally was brought about
thro this characteristic.
But a machine worked to its limit must break, and on April 29, 1893,
as Mr. Goudy sat at his desk in the Northwestern office, talking with
General McArthur his work was done, and "he fell on sleep."
And then the pages of the metropolitan papers teemed with notices
and stories of the quiet man who had gone out from among men.
George Bush Goudy, born in Indianaoolis, Ind., Jan. 7, 1828 came
to Illinois with his parents in 1832. He attended Illinois College in
the years 1844-5 ^nd 1846-7, being then resident of Springfield, III,
where he was employed as a printer. Mr. Goudy left Springfield in
May, 1849, becoming one of the "Argonauts of '49," going to Oregon
City, Oregon, in September of that year. There he became publisher
of the "Spectator," a weekly newspaper. He soon went to Lafayette,
Ore., and while there held the offices of circuit auditor and sherifif.
In the same summer of 1854 Mr. Goudy married Miss Elizabeth Mor-
gan, a very attractive young lady of Lafayette. One child was born
to them, now Mrs. L. T. M. Slocum, of Chicago. In April, 1855, Mr.
Goudy removed to Olympia, Wash., where he was unanimously elected
public printer by the •Legislature. He then conducted "The Pioneer
and Democrat," a weekly paper, and did the territorial printing. He
died in Olympia, Sept. 29, 1857. Mr. Goudy was a man of great in-
dustry, and attained much personal popularity. He was one of the
early pioneers of the Pacific Coast, as his parents and grandparents
had been of the east, and assisted in giving it a start in the course
which has since developed that region.
323
James H. Goudy, the youngest of the family, was born in Indiana,
Jan. 23, 1831, and was brought to IlHnois in 1832. There he Hved in
VandaHa, Jacksonville and Springfield. In the last named place, with
the family habit, he was a printer, among other work being employed
on the "State Register." He followed his brother George to Oregon,
in 1852, stopping first at Astoria. "During the Indian wars of that
region, in 1852-7, Mr. Goudy and his brother Capt. George B. Goudy,
were in the military service of the government, and James H. was after-
wards in charge of several Indian Reservations and tribes of Indians."
In 1865, Mr. Goudy returned to the states and made his home there-
after at Le Claire, Iowa.
In 1875, Mr. Goudy visited Springfield, 111., and the "Register" said
of him: "He is an old gold miner, an Indian fighter and has had some
hair breadth escapes. * * * * Hq -y^^s acquainted with Lincoln
and Sheridan, Gen. Crook and many of the old time great men of the
past. He is now 64 years of age and wears his golden badge of honor."
The badge referred to was given to him by old settlers of Oregon,
where he visited about 1875, in view of his services in the Indian wars."
At one time during his work among the Indians he met a young
officer of the regular army who was riding directly into the midst of
the hostile Indians. Mr. Goudy warned him of his danger and per-
suaded the youthful son of Mars to take a safe route. Years after-
ward Goudy figured it out that the man's life whom he had probably
saved was that of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who afterwards made a
more famous ride at Winchester, Va. Mr. Goudy was very popular
among his associates of the Pacific Coast, and died at Le Claire, Iowa,
Dec. 8, 1902.
Such is the story of an American family, whose history began in
Ireland and ended on the Pacific Coast of the United States, and it is
much to be questioned if many families have done so much as pioneers
and upbuilders of our land. Surely few out of any one family have
accomplished so much by their own, unaided efforts.
324
WILLIAM HUSKINSON.
K. Huskinson Shifflette.
William Huskinson was born March 26. 1827, in ^Mansfield, Wood-
house, Nottinghamshire, England. When a mere lad he was thrown on
his own resources by the sudden death of his father, whom he only re-
membered vaguely. The Odd Fellows, a Manchester's Unity, buried his
father in the village church yard, and advised the best methods of caring
for the family. William was sent to live with his uncle, James Huskin-
son, a noted civil engineer and associate of Brassy, Lock, McKinzey and
Stephenson, contractors, who were engaged on the building of Drayton
canal near Dudley, Staffordshire. Mr. James Huskinson immediately
placed his nephew in school there, where he remained until the family
moved to Paris, France, where the lad was placed in an English-
French school, as it was necessary to learn the latter language in fol-
lowing the career of civil engineering. At the age of sixteen Wm.
Huskinson, ambitious to commence work, was placed in charge of two
hundred men as time keeper on a railroad, being built between Havre
de Gras and Beach jMaison, Lafayette. Later he acted in the same
capacity on a road which w^as being built from Rouen to Paris (the
only other road then being the one from Paris to Versailles of 15 miles
long.)
At this period the French government contracted and built all its
railroads. It was at the above place, while acting as time keeper, that
during the absence of his employers, the ingenious young lad suggested
and devised a plan to replace an overturned and badly wrecked engine
on the track. His original method greatly pleased his superiors, who
appreciated his practical ability later on. For the purpose of con-
veying cotton to the coast it was deemed advisable to build a series of
viaducts from a town called Barrentowm to the nearest seaport. There
were 45 arches in these viaducts, the height being no feet high, open-
ing 60 feet. The French scheme was a decided failure for every arch
fell simultaneously through the error of laying the blade in a grove,
instead of in a straight line, and stopped the opening of the Rouen
Railroad for ten months. Some time after this the French government
decided to send two hundred select men to Algiers, Africa, appointing
as interpreter Wm. Huskinson. He proved an excellent auxiliary be-
tween the French and English engineers. Algeria, the capital, had just
been captured by the French and De Sabb Del Kaver sent as prisoner
to Paris. France wished to build fortifications at this point, but Al-
WILLIAM HUSKINSON.
^
525
giers town being built like shelving on the side of the mountain, fever
ran rampant and it so infected the new comers that many died and the
remainder contended with many a hardship ere La Belle France was
reached again.
When Mr. Huskinson finally returned to France he recuperated
with his uncle, Thomas Lawson, an old Waterloo soldier and
wealthy mill owner. After recovering his health the young man
associated himself again with Brassy and Stephenson who had con-
tracted for the building of a railroad from Boulogne and Amiens to
Paris. This work finished, he determined to come to America. On
arriving in this country he went immediately to Newburg, New York,
just at the time the Newburg branch of the York & Erie Rail-
road was being built into Chester, Pennsylvania. The boat Mary
Powell was ploughing the waters of the Hudson then. In Newburg
he met the Sharp Brothers, old friends of his uncle James and both
wealthy contractors, who made much of him. Yielding to their pur-
suasion, he invested part of his ijavings ($1,000) and took up con-
tracting and grading there. The New York Central was not built at
this time and impatient at the delay the young man took the boat,
Hendrich Hudson, landing in Albany a week after that city had been
almost destroyed by fire. Between Albany and Schnectady engines
and cars of English make were operating, but beyond to Buffalo stage
coaches were in use.
Mr. Huskinson, hearing of the wonders of the west, traveled hither,
reaching Cincinnati, where he took the boat General Taylor for Mem-
phis. In Ohio he found Toledo a mere hamlet and the Miami Canal
just in use, but travel was slow as it took ten days to reach Cincinnati
from the above hamlet. He arrived in Memphis after eight days jour-
ney. The landing was knee deep in water and the wading to the wait-
ing dray, signalized by the red gleam of a lantern, was but a fitting
prelude to the continuous slush and mire leading to the Redmont hotel.
As the destination of all travelers seemed to be New Orleans, Mr.
Huskinson went immediately to this place where he met many wealthy
sugar planters through his knowledge of the French language. He
soon became engaged in contracting for a railroad between New Or-
leans and Lake Ponchartrain. The only road hitherto used was bal-
lasted with oyster and cockle shells, and mules were used to cart trav-
elers to and fro. In New Orleans he finished up several contracts, and
then with friends started to walk to Baton Rouge, sending their bag-
gage ahead by boat. Many deer, panthers, wolves and red-skins were
met with en route, and settlers' cabins were scattered and very scarce
too, so the travelers concluded to finish their journey by boat to Vicks-
burg. In this city Mr. Huskinson undertook the strenuous task of
building a railroad out of Vicksburg through the same swamps that
so troubled General Grant during the civil war. The labor in the
south at this time w)as all slave labor and the ordeal was most trying,
for the negroes were very trifling and lazy when their overseer was
not by. At this point in his career Mr. Huskinson met with an adven-
ture — that of rescuring two young lads from drowning, at imminent
risk to his own life, thereby contracting the dreaded swamp fever.
326
Several prominent people, among whom were the parents of the two
lads, immediately interested themselves in caring for the young Eng-
lishman. Among these was one Dr. Spencer, who proved his friend-
ship by sending him north on the boat. Blue Wing, where the doctor's
friends again took the sick man in charge until better.
It was while in Frankfort, Kentuck